More talks planned as Russian shelling continues in Ukraine

Russia and Ukraine are scheduled for another round of negotiations on Wednesday, but Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine’s leadership was not “serious” about resolving the conflict.

Russian forces continue to strike infrastructure targets while the overall military situation remains largely unchanged, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said on Facebook.

The state emergency service said a shell hit a 12-story apartment building in Kyiv, causing a fire and injuries. There was no immediate update from Moscow.

Nato defence ministers will be in Brussels to discuss ways to reinforce the alliance’s eastern members and prevent spillover from the war in Ukraine, a risk illustrated by recent crashes of drones.

President Joe Biden will travel to Europe for Nato and European Union summits next week. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said there is still room to compromise with Russia, will deliver a virtual address to the US Congress on Wednesday.

Ukraine’s war losses put at $565bn

Ukraine’s direct losses from the Russian war were estimated at $565bn (R8.53-trillion), Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said at a meeting with the prime ministers of Poland, Slovenia and the Czech Republic in Kyiv.

“This money will be needed to restore our state, both at the expense of Russia and with funds from our partners,” he said. “We will work to achieve the arrest of money and assets of Russia abroad. We trust that our partners will join this large scale plan.”

Shmyhal also called for new package of sanctions to cancel all issued foreign visas for Russian citizens as he outlined a set of far-reaching steps countries have said they’re not ready to take. He also said Ukraine’s allies should recognise Russia as a sponsor of terrorism, embargo all Russian goods and close all ports for Russian ships and sailors.

Singapore calls on China to use ‘enormous influence’ on Russia

Singapore’s top diplomat said he hopes China will use its “enormous influence” on Russia to help end the war, warning that Beijing’s decisions in the coming days and weeks could determine the future path of the global economy. 

“The big issue now is what decisions and actions China takes,” minister for foreign affairs Vivian Balakrishnan said in an interview with Haslinda Amin to be broadcast at the upcoming Bloomberg Live’s ASEAN Business Summit.

“If you get a deepening of the bifurcation of the global economy, of supply chains, of technology, this will be a very, very different world.”

Singapore last month became the first Southeast Asian nation to say it was imposing unilateral sanctions on Russia.

UK’s Johnson in Gulf seeking help with energy crisis

Prime Minister Boris Johnson began a visit to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia where he will to try to persuade the UK’s Gulf allies to step up oil production and ease pressure on energy prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

He’ll meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed in Abu Dhabi before travelling to Riyadh to see Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The war in and the sanctions on Russia have roiled energy markets and put pressure on OPEC members to raise output. 

Russian court websites defaced

At least eight websites of arbitration courts in Russia’s Far East were defaced by hackers who used the portals to post anti-war statements calling Putin a terrorist, the Regnum news service reported. 

The websites now appear to have been taken down, but the profanity-laced messages, which also appeared to have been posted to the Moscow Arbitration Court’s website, were briefly visible in search engine results for some pages.

Zelensky calls European leaders in Kyiv ‘courageous’

Zelensky praised the leaders of Poland, Slovenia and the Czech Republic as “courageous” in a video released by his office, after they travelled to Kyiv by train for talks. 

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