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Ukraine’s Zelenskyy Meets Greta Thunberg and Others to Address the War’s Effect on Ecology

Greta Thunberg, Swedish environmental activist, member of the newly created international working group on environmental crimes of Russia, speaks during a press briefing following the group first meeting in Kyiv on June 29, 2023. (AFP)
Greta Thunberg, Swedish environmental activist, member of the newly created international working group on environmental crimes of Russia, speaks during a press briefing following the group first meeting in Kyiv on June 29, 2023. (AFP)
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Ukraine’s Zelenskyy Meets Greta Thunberg and Others to Address the War’s Effect on Ecology

Greta Thunberg, Swedish environmental activist, member of the newly created international working group on environmental crimes of Russia, speaks during a press briefing following the group first meeting in Kyiv on June 29, 2023. (AFP)
Greta Thunberg, Swedish environmental activist, member of the newly created international working group on environmental crimes of Russia, speaks during a press briefing following the group first meeting in Kyiv on June 29, 2023. (AFP)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met Thursday with Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg and prominent European figures who are forming a working group to address ecological damage from the 16-month-old Russian invasion.

The meeting in the Ukrainian capital came as fighting continued around the country.

The governor of the Kherson region, Oleksandr Prokudin, said two people were killed in the region's capital in a Russian strike that hit residences, a medical facility and a school where residents were lined up to receive humanitarian aid. Another person was killed in a morning strike on the village of Bilzoerka, the regional prosecutor's office said.

The presidential office said Thursday morning that at least eight civilians died in Russian attacks during the previous 24 hours.

Zelenskyy also met former US Vice President Mike Pence who visited Kyiv. Pence, an advocate of US support to Ukraine, is running for the 2024 Republican nomination for president.

"We appreciate that both major US parties, the Republican and Democratic, remain united in their support for Ukraine. And, of course, we feel the strong support of the people of the United States," Zelenskyy told Pence, according to the presidential website.

The working group on the environment includes Thunberg, former Swedish Deputy Prime Minister Margot Wallström, European Parliament Vice President Heidi Hautala, and former Irish President Mary Robinson.

Zelenskyy said forming the group is "a very important signal of supporting Ukraine. It’s really important, we need your professional help."

Thunberg said Russian forces "are deliberately targeting the environment and people’s livelihoods and homes. And therefore, also destroying lives. Because this is after all a matter of people."

The objectives of the working group are evaluating the environmental damage resulting from the war, formulating mechanisms to hold Russia accountable, and undertaking efforts to restore Ukraine’s ecology.

In Moscow, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill met with Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the Vatican envoy for seeking peace between Russia and Ukraine.

Kirill, a supporter of the war, said: "It is very important that the Christian communities of East and West take part in the process of reconciliation," according to video circulated by the Russian church.

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Varieties

Europe Climate Report Signals Rising Extremes

(FILES) This photograph shows the scientific ice-going "Kronprins Haakon" sailing through the sea ice in eastern Spitzbergen, in the Svalbard archipelago, on April 10, 2025. (Photo by Olivier MORIN / AFP)
(FILES) This photograph shows the scientific ice-going "Kronprins Haakon" sailing through the sea ice in eastern Spitzbergen, in the Svalbard archipelago, on April 10, 2025. (Photo by Olivier MORIN / AFP)
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Europe Climate Report Signals Rising Extremes

(FILES) This photograph shows the scientific ice-going "Kronprins Haakon" sailing through the sea ice in eastern Spitzbergen, in the Svalbard archipelago, on April 10, 2025. (Photo by Olivier MORIN / AFP)
(FILES) This photograph shows the scientific ice-going "Kronprins Haakon" sailing through the sea ice in eastern Spitzbergen, in the Svalbard archipelago, on April 10, 2025. (Photo by Olivier MORIN / AFP)

Europe endured a historic heatwave across Nordic countries, shrinking glaciers and record sea temperatures in 2025 as the fast-warming continent faces more frequent climate extremes, a new report showed Wednesday.

"The climate indicators ... are quite worrying," Mauro Facchini, a European Commission official, told journalists.

The European State of the Climate report underscores the urgent need for the region to adapt to global warming and accelerate its transition to clean energy, another EU official said, according to AFP.

Here are some key findings of the report published by the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO):

At least 95 percent of the region experienced above-average annual temperatures, with Britain, Norway and Iceland recording their warmest year on record, according to the report.

"Since 1980, Europe has been warming twice as fast as the global average, making it the fastest warming continent on Earth," WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo said in a briefing on the report.

"Heatwaves are becoming more frequent and severe. And in 2025, we saw long duration heatwaves from the Mediterranean to the Arctic Circle," Saulo said.

Sub-Arctic Finland, Norway and Sweden -- a region dubbed Fennoscandia -- experienced a record three-week heatwave in July, with temperatures reaching 30C within the Arctic Circle.

Parts of Fennoscandia had almost two weeks of "strong heat stress" -- when temperatures feel hotter than 32C. In an average year, the region will normally have up to two days of strong heat stress.

In Türkiye, temperatures reached 50C for the first time in July while 85 percent of the Greek population was affected by extreme temperatures close to or above 40C.

Large parts of western and southern Europe were hit with two significant heatwaves in June, including most of Spain, Portugal, France and southern parts of Britain.

A third major heatwave struck Portugal, Spain and France in August.

Europe and the rest of the world could face another extremely hot summer as the El Nino weather phenomenon, which pushed global temperatures to record highs in 2024, is expected to return in the middle of the year.

Glaciers across Europe recorded a net mass loss in 2025, with Iceland experiencing its second-largest ever melt.

Europe's glaciers are found in mountainous areas such as the Alps, northern Scandinavia, Iceland and Greenland's periphery.

"Glaciers across Europe and globally are projected to continue to lose mass throughout the 21st century, regardless of the emission scenario," the report said.

The Greenland Ice Sheet lost round 139 billion tons of ice -- "equivalent to losing 100 Olympic-sized swimming pools every single hour", said Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), which operates Copernicus.

It raised the global mean sea level by 0.4 mm.

Europe's snow cover, meanwhile, was the third lowest on record.

For the third year running, renewable energy produced more of Europe's electricity than fossil fuels, accounting for 46.4 percent of the continent's power generation.

Solar power's contribution reached a record 12.5 percent.

"But that's not sufficient. We need to speed up," said Dusan Chrenek, principal advisor at the European Commission's climate office. "We need to work on transitioning away from fossil fuels."

Europe's annual sea surface temperature was the highest on record for the fourth consecutive year.

A record 86 percent of the European ocean region had at least one day with "strong" marine heatwave conditions.

Such heatwaves have an impact on biodiversity, notably on seagrass meadows in the Mediterranean which act as natural sea barriers and are sensitive to high temperatures.

"They are biodiversity hotspots housing thousands of fish per acre and are critical nursery habitats," said Claire Scannell, one of the report's authors and principal meteorologist officer at Ireland's weather service.

The area burnt by wildfires, meanwhile, reached a record 1,034,550 hectares.

Storms and floods killed at least 21 people and affected 14,500 across Europe, though flooding and extreme rainfall were less widespread than in recent years.

Varieties

Australian Climber on Record Sea-to-Summit Everest Bid

A member of expedition team stands at Khumbu Icefall in Solukhumbu district, also known as the Everest region, Nepal, April 22, 2026. REUTERS/Purnima Shrestha
A member of expedition team stands at Khumbu Icefall in Solukhumbu district, also known as the Everest region, Nepal, April 22, 2026. REUTERS/Purnima Shrestha
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Australian Climber on Record Sea-to-Summit Everest Bid

A member of expedition team stands at Khumbu Icefall in Solukhumbu district, also known as the Everest region, Nepal, April 22, 2026. REUTERS/Purnima Shrestha
A member of expedition team stands at Khumbu Icefall in Solukhumbu district, also known as the Everest region, Nepal, April 22, 2026. REUTERS/Purnima Shrestha

Among the hundreds of climbers hoping to scale Everest this season, 27-year-old Australian Oliver Foran began his journey far away, cycling and then walking all the way from the sea.

Foran is seeking to break the 67-day "sea-to-summit" record, first pedaling 1,150 kilometers (715 miles) from the warm waves of the Bay of Bengal in India to Nepal and now trekking to the icy 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) peak.

"I always wanted to climb Mount Everest, but I wanted to do it in a special way," Foran told AFP by telephone on a break from his long hike upwards to Everest Base Camp, and then to the highest place on Earth.

It is also a deeply personal journey, with Foran raising funds for youth mental health.

The former real estate agent climbed his first major mountain, Nepal's 6,189-meter (20,305-foot) Island Peak, in 2024.

He then summited 6,812-meter (22,349-foot) Ama Dablam last year.

He hopes Everest will be his first 8,000-meter mountain.

He has been training -- cycling, exercising and working on his breathing -- for the past six months to build endurance for the altitude.

The sea-to-summit is a rare feat, first completed by another Australian, Tim Macartney-Snape, in 1990. Macartney-Snape spent three months walking from sea level to the Everest summit, and it was his documentary that sparked the idea for Foran.

The current record is held by South Korean climber Kim Chang-ho, who walked and then kayaked the Ganges river, cycled to Nepal and then trekked up to the base camp in 2013, five years before his death on another mountain.

Foran aims to slash a week off that record and reach the summit in 60 days.

"It is a challenging task and a unique one," said Gelje Sherpa, his lead guide and expedition organizer at AGA Adventures.

"There are so many facilities and options to summit Everest in a record time now, but he is using only his own human power. That is big."

Foran cycled across India and Nepal in the first 16 days, navigating sweltering hot plains before steep, relentless hills.

He said he is driven by "something bigger" than himself, the memory of his teenage grief when his mother died of brain cancer.

"I didn't know how to process it... Life on the outside looked pretty good, but inside I was just emptier than ever," he said.

The unresolved grief reached a breaking point seven years later.

Foran said he had "made up my mind that that was it" -- but a call to a friend proved life-saving.

"I made the decision then that... if I ever got the opportunity to stop somebody else from getting to that point or to give them another way, I would," he said.

That commitment underlines his Everest expedition.

Foran is partnering with Australian organization Youturn with a target to raise $200,000 to build a youth mental health support center back home.

Aaron Minton, a director at Youturn, said it would be a "youth-focused mental health and well-being hub".

Foran hopes his journey can offer both awareness and inspiration, sharing the good parts and the struggles of his journey through his social media.

"What's really motivating me is, hopefully, having an inspiration on some of these younger people -- that might be a little bit stuck with where they are right now in their lives," he said.

"Also, I'm doing it for my mum, because she can't, and I want to make her proud."

As he continues his ascent, an unexpected source of comfort that accompanies him is the Madonna song "Like a Prayer".

"My mum used to listen to it. And it now holds a special place in my heart," he said.

"So that's what I'm going to be whistling to myself when I'm walking up to the summit."

Varieties

Germany Approves New Rescue Bid for Stranded Whale

People stand close to a stranded humpback whale in the Wismarer Bucht bay of the Baltic Sea off the island of Poel, northern Germany, close to the village of Faehrdorf-Hof, on April 28, 2026. (AFP)
People stand close to a stranded humpback whale in the Wismarer Bucht bay of the Baltic Sea off the island of Poel, northern Germany, close to the village of Faehrdorf-Hof, on April 28, 2026. (AFP)
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Germany Approves New Rescue Bid for Stranded Whale

People stand close to a stranded humpback whale in the Wismarer Bucht bay of the Baltic Sea off the island of Poel, northern Germany, close to the village of Faehrdorf-Hof, on April 28, 2026. (AFP)
People stand close to a stranded humpback whale in the Wismarer Bucht bay of the Baltic Sea off the island of Poel, northern Germany, close to the village of Faehrdorf-Hof, on April 28, 2026. (AFP)

German officials Tuesday gave the green light for a fresh rescue attempt for a humpback whale which has been stranded off the country's Baltic Sea coast for over a month.

The 13-metre (over 40 foot) whale and its struggle for survival have gripped Germany since the sea mammal beached on a sandbank near the city of Luebeck, far from its natural habitat.

After several initial attempts failed, two entrepreneurs came forward to finance a new rescue bid which will involve loading the cetacean onto a special barge and carrying it out to deeper waters.

Till Backhaus, environment minister for the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, said that two vets had examined the whale and believed it was "fit to be transported."

After his announcement, rescuers in diving suits could be seen next to the whale, standing in shallow waters near the island of Poel, with the barge close by.

The creature, dubbed "Timmy" by some of the German press, was first spotted stuck on a sandbank on March 23 near Luebeck before freeing itself and then becoming stuck again several times.

At the start of April officials gave up on the animal, saying they believed it could not be saved.

But this triggered an outcry and authorities were persuaded to let the entrepreneurs come up with a rescue plan.

Some scientists have strongly criticized the decision to allow further rescue bids, believing they will be too risky for the whale and estimating the chances of success as low.

Backhaus however insisted it was his "absolute priority" that the mammal be rescued alive, and he was trying to "do everything possible to help" the creature.

The saga has sparked a media frenzy -- with non-stop coverage from TV channels, online outlets and social media influencers -- but has also led to angry spats and conspiracy theories.