MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday visited the Kuril Islands, a Russian-controlled Pacific island chain also claimed by Japan, for the first time, drawing protests from Tokyo.
Putin visited a fish plant, a hospital and a school on Iturup, one of the chain's southernmost islands. He also briefly spoke to local residents and met with the governor of Russia's Sakhalin region, Valery Limarenko.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, interacts with schoolchildren as he visits a secondary school named after Eduard Norpolov in Kurilsk on the Iturup Island, the largest of the Kuril Islands of Russia's far-east, on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, second left, visits a secondary school named after Eduard Norpolov in Kurilsk on the Iturup Island, the largest of the Kuril Islands of Russia's far-east, on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, visits the central district hospital at Kitovoye village on the Iturup Island, the largest of the Kuril Islands of Russia's fareast, on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, listens to Sakhalin Region Governor Valery Limarenko in Kurilsk on the Iturup Island, the largest of the Kuril Islands of Russia's fareast, on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, visits the Secondary School named after the Hero of Russia Eduard Norpolov in Kurilsk on the Iturup Island, the largest of the Kuril Islands of Russia's fareast, on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Japan asserts territorial rights to the four southernmost islands of the chain, which it calls the Northern Territories. The Soviet Union took them from Japan in the final days of World War II, and the dispute kept the countries from signing a peace treaty formally ending their hostilities.
Decades of diplomatic efforts to negotiate a settlement haven’t produced any visible results. Moscow over the years has also beefed up its military presence on the Kuril Islands in moves that appeared to underscore its firm stance in the dispute.
Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said his country “strongly protests” against Putin's visit to Iturup, which Japan calls Etorofu. “The Northern Territories, including Etorofu (Iturup) Island, are Japan’s inherent territory both historically and from the perspective of international law,” Motegi said in a statement.
Japan also protested in 2021 when Russia's Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin visited Iturup.
Putin in recent days has visited several regions in Russia's Siberia and the Far East. Before coming to Iturup, the Russian president stopped on Sakhalin Island to attend the final part of the drills by Russia's Pacific Fleet.
Speaking aboard a warship that was taking part in the naval exercises, Putin said Wednesday that the current status of the Kuril Islands “is enshrined in international documents as a reality that arose following the outcome of the World War II.” “But even here, Russia was prepared to seek a solution with the goal of concluding a peace treaty with Japan,” he said.
The Russian leader said that in the past, Moscow “had developed constructive relations with a number of Japanese leaders, including the tragically deceased former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who did much to bring Japan and Russia closer together, to align our positions.”
Putin said the position of Japan, which imposed sanctions on Russia after its sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, has since changed.
Still, Russia is ready “to cooperate with all its neighbors, including Japan and other states in the region,” the Russian president said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, interacts with schoolchildren as he visits a secondary school named after Eduard Norpolov in Kurilsk on the Iturup Island, the largest of the Kuril Islands of Russia's far-east, on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, second left, visits a secondary school named after Eduard Norpolov in Kurilsk on the Iturup Island, the largest of the Kuril Islands of Russia's far-east, on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, visits the central district hospital at Kitovoye village on the Iturup Island, the largest of the Kuril Islands of Russia's fareast, on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, listens to Sakhalin Region Governor Valery Limarenko in Kurilsk on the Iturup Island, the largest of the Kuril Islands of Russia's fareast, on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, visits the Secondary School named after the Hero of Russia Eduard Norpolov in Kurilsk on the Iturup Island, the largest of the Kuril Islands of Russia's fareast, on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
WOLPHAARTSDIJK, Netherlands (AP) — A cloud of dust billows behind Maarten Janse’s tractor as he spreads a mixture of compost, straw and manure over a field to nourish the parched soil.
Janse's farm on the fertile land of the Netherlands' southwestern Zeeland Province is drying out despite his efforts to make it more drought resistant as accelerated human-caused global warming and a supersized El Nino batter fields across Europe.
The drought that is roasting much of Europe this summer is taking a heavy toll on crops across the continent, from potatoes in the Netherlands to corn in Bosnia and grapes in Italy. Even when farmers try to adapt, the extreme weather is hitting their crops and water supplies.
Triodos, a Dutch bank that has a focus on sustainability, published an analysis this week that estimated the heatwaves and drought could reduce gross domestic product across the European Union by 1% for 2026 or around 180 billion euros ($208 billion). Farmers are among the hardest hit, with their crops set to be badly affected by soaring temperatures and lack of water. In large parts of the Netherlands, farmers are no longer allowed to use water from streams and drainage channels to irrigate fields and orchards.
Another farmer in Zeeland, Hendrik Jan ten Cate, looks at a field full of withered potato plants that are almost all ready for harvest — a month early and with a significantly reduced crop. His potatoes are used to make French fries for companies including McDonald’s, but they’re likely going to be too small this year.
“People want long fries,” he says as he holds one of the potatoes. “That’s going to be tough this year.”
Ten Cate is one of the lucky farmers because he is allowed to irrigate his crops. But, even so, he estimates his harvest this year will be down by about one-third compared to average years.
“It's not just the drought that is the problem,” he says. “It is also the sun, the dry air and especially the hot days we have had this year. The potatoes just can't handle that combination very well.”
In Bosnia, where agriculture contributes roughly 5% of annual GDP and 10% of all employment, grain farmer Slavisa Lukic stood in one of his corn fields as stalks blew limply in the breeze. His crops have been hit by repeated heat waves and drought conditions. He said this year’s corn yield would be very poor, if he manages to harvest one at all.
Lukic remembers when he grew 6 to 7 tons per hectare on his farm. He expects this year’s corn yield will be around 1.5 to 2 tons per hectare.
Pointing to the drought-stricken land in northeastern Bosnia, Lukic said clover fields that once grew abundantly have all but disappeared. “Now they literally do not exist,” he said. “Nothing.”
The drought is even hitting one of the Czech Republic's most famous products: beer.
Plzeňský Prazdroj, the country’s largest beer producer, expects to incur losses this year due to a stunted hops yield.
Jakub Zaoral, the brewer’s sustainability manager, said that changes in rainfall patterns — characterized by long periods of dryness with occasional heavy storms — mean that when rain does fall, it runs off the dry soil. That results in inconsistent yields and increasingly low groundwater levels.
“There’s no choice but to simply accept the fact that one year will be great and the next won’t be,” he said. “If it were to happen three times in a row, that could very well become an existential problem for hop growers.”
In Romania, some heat and drought-resistant crops like sunflowers have been less affected by the extreme conditions and yields have been plentiful. But the drought is still hitting home with record-low water levels on the Danube River disrupting grain transport, causing chronically congested terminals and an increasing pileup of crops with nowhere to go.
“In a short time, maximum 10 days, we will enter full blast in sunflower harvest, to be followed by corn,” Cezar Gheorghe, founder of grain consultancy firm Agricolumn, told The Associated Press. “Already farmers are in panic mode. They can’t find a place to store the corn and sunflower seeds.”
Cattle grazing plains in Hungary are turning to dust. No rain has fallen on Sándor Molnár's dairy farm since late May and he is having to buy expensive feed for his 130 cows.
“We’re trying to hang in there and hope for the best, hoping next year will be better,” he added. “To be honest, we’ve been saying that for a few years now, but maybe this time it will be.”
Elveden Estate, with more than 10,000 acres of farmland on the Suffolk-Norfolk border in eastern England, has built a reservoir that can hold enough water to fill about 200 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Less than a year after opening, it's almost dry. Another reservoir is at about 20% capacity.
But the farm's water policy is paying off.
“The fact that we’ve invested significantly in reservoir storage and the infrastructure associated with pumping water has meant that we’ve been in a very strong position to continue to irrigate our crops through this growing season,” the farm's managing director, Andrew Blenkiron, said.
But every drop counts.
“We’re very concerned that we haven’t got enough water to see us through this season,” Blenkiron said. “We’ve got probably, if this weather stays as it is, six weeks of watering left to do.”
Janse uses no-till farming on his fields — not plowing the soil, planting crops to cover the ground year-round and adding organic matter — to help cope with the whims of the weather as climate change triggers more extremes.
He has also diversified by running a popular campsite on his farm near the picturesque town of Veere. As he tends to his fields, guests walk by toward a lake where yachts and a river cruise ship sail past.
And as dry weather causes an increase in soil salinity in fields, Janse grows samphire, also known as sea asparagus, on a small patch of land. It's a crop that can thrive in salty conditions. But with no rainfall, even that is struggling this year.
“Samphire needs fresh water, and if there is only saltwater it doesn’t grow either,” he said.
Nadja Lovadinov in London, Mustakim Hasnath in Suffolk, Stanislav Hodina in Prague, Czech Republic, Justin Spike in Budapest, Hungary, and Stephen McGrath in Leamington Spa, England, contributed to this report.
Farmer Maarten Janse drives his tractor on a drought stricken wheat field in Wolphaartsdijk, Netherlands, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
Farmer Henrik Jan ten Cate stands in his potato field, affected by the drought, in Poortvliet, Netherlands, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
A potato field affected by the drought in Poortvliet, Netherlands, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
Farmer Maarten Janse stands next to his tractor on a drought stricken wheat field in Wolphaartsdijk, Netherlands, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
Farmer Maarten Janse drives his tractor on a drought stricken wheat field in Wolphaartsdijk, Netherlands, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
