EU will provide emergency funds to help keep Radio Free Europe afloat after US cuts

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union agreed Tuesday to provide emergency funds to help keep Radio Free Europe afloat after the Trump administration stopped grants to the pro-democracy media outlet, accusing it of promoting a news agenda with a liberal bias.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty started broadcasting during the Cold War. Its programs are aired in 27 languages in 23 countries across Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East. Its lawyers have been fighting the administration in court.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc’s foreign ministers had agreed to a 5.5-million-euro ($6.2 million) contract to “support the vital work of Radio Free Europe.” The “short-term emergency funding” is a “safety net” for independent journalism, she said.

Kallas said the EU would not be able to fill the organization's funding gap around the world, but that it can help the broadcaster to “work and function in those countries that are in our neighborhood and that are very much dependent on news coming from outside.”

She said that she hoped the 27 EU member countries would also provide more funds to help Radio Free Europe longer term. Kallas said the bloc has been looking for “strategic areas” where it can help as the United States cuts foreign aid.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s corporate headquarters are in Washington and its journalistic headquarters are based in the Czech Republic, which has been leading the EU drive to find funds.

Last month, a U.S. federal judge ordered the Trump administration to restore $12 million that was appropriated by Congress. Lawyers for the service, which has been operating for 75 years, said it would be forced to shut down in June without the money.

In March, Kallas recalled the influence that the network had on her as she was growing up in Estonia, which was part of the Soviet Union.

“Coming from the other side of the Iron Curtain, actually it was (from) the radio that we got a lot of information,” she said. “So, it has been a beacon of democracy, very valuable in this regard.”

Latvia's Foreign Minister Baiba Braze speaks with the media as she arrives for a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Belgium, Tuesday, May 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski arrives for a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Belgium, Tuesday, May 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, second right, is greeted by European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas during a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Belgium, Tuesday, May 20, 2025. (Olivier Matthys, Pool Photo via AP)

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, center, rings a bell to signify the start of a meeting of EU defense ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Tuesday, May 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

A Ukrainian drone strike killed one person and wounded three others in the Russian city of Voronezh, local officials said Sunday.

A young woman died overnight in a hospital intensive care unit after debris from a drone fell on a house during the attack on Saturday, regional Gov. Alexander Gusev said on Telegram.

Three other people were wounded and more than 10 apartment buildings, private houses and a high school were damaged, he said, adding that air defenses shot down 17 drones over Voronezh. The city is home to just over 1 million people and lies some 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

The attack came the day after Russia bombarded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles overnight into Friday, killing at least four people in the capital Kyiv, according to Ukrainian officials.

For only the second time in the nearly four-year war, Russia used a powerful new hypersonic missile that struck western Ukraine in a clear warning to Kyiv and NATO.

The intense barrage and the launch of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile followed reports of major progress in talks between Ukraine and its allies on how to defend the country from further aggression by Moscow if a U.S.-led peace deal is struck.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday in his nightly address that Ukrainian negotiators “continue to communicate with the American side.”

Chief negotiator Rustem Umerov was in contact with U.S. partners Saturday, he said.

Separately, Ukraine’s General Staff said Russia targeted Ukraine with 154 drones overnight into Sunday and 125 were shot down.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

This photo provided by the Ukrainian Security Service on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, shows a fragment believed to be a part of a Russian Oreshnik intermediate range hypersonic ballistic missile that hit the Lviv region. (Ukrainian Security Service via AP)

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, second left, listens to British Defense Secretary John Healey during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Danylo Antoniuk)