Monday, April 17, 2023
At a joint press conference, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said Baghdad was ready to “help the two parties to first reach a ceasefire, then to start discussions”.
However, Ukrainin Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba appeared doubtful that peace efforts would succeed.
“Russia is seeking war. And this is the biggest impediment, the biggest hurdle on the way to peace,” he told reporters.
“You don’t behave like this when you want peace. So whatever Russian officials are saying… today Russia wants war,” Kuleba said.
“We need Russia to agree with a very simple fact: it has to stop the war and withdraw from the territory of Ukraine. This will give space to diplomacy.”
Offers to mediate in the Ukraine-Russia conflict have multiplied in recent weeks.
On Sunday in Abu Dhabi, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said he had discussed joint mediation with China and the United Arab Emirates, and accused the United States and Europe of prolonging the conflict.
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1739 GMT — Ukraine, Poland in talks to end grain ban impasse
Ukraine and Poland have begun talks aimed at reaching an agreement after Warsaw banned Ukrainian grain imports, a decision deemed “unacceptable” by the European Union.
Ukraine’s grain exports have transited through the EU to other countries since the war-torn nation’s traditional Black Sea routes were blocked by Russia’s invasion.
Neighbouring European states have seen an increase in the arrival of maize, wheat and sunflower from Ukraine, causing silos to fill and driving down local prices – leading to farmers’ protests and the resignation of the Polish agriculture minister
Food safety concerns have also been raised.
Hungary and Poland banned imports of grain and other food from Ukraine over the weekend. On Monday Slovakia joined them.
1325 GMT — Kremlin says US has never given up trying to conduct intelligence activities in Russia
The Kremlin has said that the US has never given up trying to conduct intelligence activities in Russia, but Moscow has met these efforts with appropriate opposition.
“Our special services and counterintelligence units are performing their functions. The United States has never left work and attempts to conduct intelligence activities on us. This is met with appropriate opposition from our side.
In this case, our special services are doing their job,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said during a press briefing.
1200 GMT — Ukraine claims finding more Chinese components in Russian arms
Ukrainian forces are finding a growing number of components from China in Russian weapons used in Ukraine, a senior adviser in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office told Reuters, as sanctions squeeze Western supplies.
In “the weapons recovered from the battlefield we continue to find different electronics,” said Vladyslav Vlasiuk, who advises the president’s chief of staff on sanctions policy.
“The trend is now that there is less Western-made components but more – not hard (to) guess which country–made components. Of course, China,” he said via a video call.
0756GMT — 4 killed, 1 injured by Russian missile strikes in eastern Ukraine
Four people were killed and one was injured by Russian missile strikes in eastern Ukraine in the past 24 hours.
“On April 16, it was possible to establish confirmation about four people who died as a result of a rocket attack on Sloviansk,” Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on Telegram.
Kyrylenko said officials had been unable to confirm whether there had been casualties in the Russian-controlled cities of Mariupol and Volnovakha in the Donetsk region.
Separately, Zaporizhzhia Governor Yuriy Malashko said on Telegram that Russia launched a total of 56 strikes on 16 settlements in the region over 24 hours.
0743 GMT — Russia’s Gazprombank deepens ties with Indian banks for bilateral trade
Russia’s Gazprombank has expanded its links with banks in India to expedite trade between the two countries in national currencies, a key executive told Reuters, as Russia this year has become the biggest supplier of oil to India.
Trade between India and Russia has surged since the West imposed sanctions against Russia for its attack on Ukraine, which has altered flows of oil and other goods.
“We worked hard to establish our level of partnership with Indian banks and our representatives here worked hard,” Elena Borisenko, deputy chairman of the board of management of Gazprombank, said on the sidelines of an India-Russia business dialogue event in New Delhi.
0211 GMT — EU criticises Poland, Hungary over suspension of Ukrainian grain imports
A “unilateral move” by Hungary and Poland to temporarily suspend Ukrainian grain imports is “unacceptable,” a European Union official said.
In a statement, Miriam Garcia Ferrer, a spokeswoman for trade and agriculture at the European Commission, called on the two countries to step back from the move.
“We are aware of Poland and Hungary’s announcements regarding the ban on imports of grain and other agricultural products from Ukraine.”
Two countries have announced on Saturday that they suspended Ukrainian grain imports in order to balance the oversupply of grain in their domestic markets that has caused local prices to crash.
0110 GMT — Ukrainian club Shakhtar reaches out to wounded soldiers and war orphans
Shakhtar Donetsk’s objectives used to be confined to silverware but now the storied Ukrainian football club have loftier aims, financing hospital care abroad for wounded soldiers and finding new homes for orphans.
The club – whose lifting of the 2009 UEFA Cup makes it one of only two Ukrainian teams to win a European club competition – has through its foundation Shakhtar Social spared no expense since Russia began its attacks on Ukraine in February 2022.
They have paid 100,000 euros ($110,000) each for five severely wounded soldiers to be sent for medical treatment in hospitals in Israel, the United States and Spain.
For our live updates from Saturday (April 16), click here.
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