Polish President Andrzej Duda has called for creating a special “register of damages” for Russian war crimes and destruction in Ukraine, saying that it would be “an important step to hold to account those guilty of crimes committed in Ukraine”.
Speaking during a summit of Council of Europe leaders in Reykjavik, Iceland, Duda said that, with its invasion of Ukraine, Russia “wants not only to destroy the country” but also “revise all the values which form the basis of the Council of Europe.”
During Tuesday’s speech, Duda emphasized that Ukraine was “shedding its blood and giving lives in the name of the values which underpin our identity” and called on leaders of “the free world… to support them in this fight” as “without such support, all our declarations will remain void.”
More than 40 European leaders have gathered for the two-day Council of Europe summit focused on democracy, human rights, and security challenges, including Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Ukraine joined the Council of Europe in 1995, followed by Russia in 1996. Russia was expelled from the organization in March of 2022 following its invasion of Ukraine. Today is day 448 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Source: gdansk.pl, Polskie Radio
The annual Millenium Docs Against Gravity (MDAG) festival is underway across Poland, with the Film Centre in Gdynia hosting documentaries from around the world along with events, workshops, and discussions.
The annual festival was first launched in 2004 and has since become a prominent fixture in the global documentary film scene and Poland’s biggest documentary festival. Held in various cities across Poland, including Warsaw, Wroclaw, and Gdynia, it showcases an array of modern documentaries that tackle diverse subjects, including war, climate change, human rights, and the nature of art.
Particularly notable at this year’s MDAG is the inclusion of documentaries on the war in Ukraine, including “Eastern Front,” a chronicle of a volunteer medical battalion working on the front lines, and “Skąd Dokąd,” which follows Polish filmmaker Maciek Hamela as he drives across war-torn Ukraine helping Ukrainians evacuate to safety in Poland.
Twelve documentaries will vie for the Grand Prix in MDAG’s main competition, including Laura Poitras’ “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” which won last year’s Venice Film Festival, as well as Lea Glob’s “Apolonia, Apolonia,” Alisa Kovalenko’s Ukraine-themed “We Will Not Fade Away” and Jakub Piątek’s “Pianoforte,” the PAP news agency reported.
Films will be screened in theaters until May 21, with the virtual version of the festival running from May 23 to June 4, at mdag.pl.
Source: Polskie Radio, mdag.pl
Polish tennis star Iga Świątek has advanced to the quarterfinals of the women’s singles competition at the Italian Open in Rome with a straight-set win over Donna Vekić of Croatia.
The Polish world No. 1 defeated the 21st-ranked Croatian 6-3, 6-4 in the fourth round on Tuesday.
Świątek will face off against 7th-seeded Elena Andreyevna Rybakina of Kazakhstan tonight at 20:30 CET for the chance to advance to the semifinals.
One other Pole, Jan Zieliński, is also still in contention to win a podium spot in Rome. Zieliński and teammate Hugo Nys of Monaco defeated the American duo of Mackenzie McDonald and Frances Tiafoe in their quarterfinal match on Tuesday.
The schedule for the semifinals of men’s doubles is set to be announced today.
Source: Polskie Radio, wtatennis.com, atptour.com
Starting this week, Gdańsk will host world-renowned musicians and conductors as part of the Gdańsk Music Festival, an eight-day series of concerts around the city.
The inaugural concert of the 16th edition of the annual festival will be held at 19:00 on Friday, May 19, at the Baltic Philharmonic on Ołowianka island. The concert will feature renowned Kazakh violinist Meruert Karmenova, the 2nd-place winner of the International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition in Poznań.
Two concerts on Saturday will follow the opening concert, the first at 18:00 at the Old Town Hall featuring Gdańsk-based bassoonist Mirosław Pachowicz and the world premiere of a composition by Polish composer and organist Zbigniew Kruczek.
At 20:00 on Saturday, Radio Gdańsk will broadcast a concert live from the Janusz Hajdun concert studio featuring the chamber orchestra “Camerata Gedania” of the Gdańsk Akademia Muzyczna under the direction of Andrzej Kacprzak.
The festival will take place from May 19-26, and a complete program is available in Polish and English on the festival website at gdanskifestiwal.pl.
Source: gdansk.pl
Weather
Today will start out sunny, with an increasing chance of rain and clouds gathering in the afternoon and a strong breeze coming in from the west. Temperatures will be cooler than yesterday, with a daytime high of 14°C or 57°F, dropping to a low of 5°C or 41°F overnight. Similar weather is expected tomorrow, with temperatures warming up noticeably over the weekend.
Listen to the broadcast:
Elizabeth Peck/ol
