UKRAINE WRAP | Ukraine foreign minister urges Berlin for quick arms delivery decision

April 14 2022 - 20:00

Ukraine foreign minister urges Berlin for quick arms delivery decision

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called on Germany to make a quick decision on weapons delivery to Ukraine, saying Kyiv was counting on Berlin's leading role in Europe.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine prompted Germany to stage a historic reversal of its policy of not sending weapons to conflict zones, with Berlin promising to supply Kyiv with anti-tank weapons and missiles.

But the Ukrainian government has been frustrated by delays in delivery due to several ministries' approvals required for consignments of arms exports which have to be coordinated by the Federal Chancellery.

"I hope that (German Chancellor Olaf) Scholz will make a positive decision," Kuleba told broadcaster ARD, according to the text of an interview released ahead of its showing later on Thursday.

He said arguments justifying why weapons could not be delivered were not valid and did not take reality into account, adding that the war could have been avoided if Germany had permitted arms deliveries sooner.

Kuleba called on Germany to supply Ukraine with heavy weapons and to impose tougher sanctions on Moscow such as an embargo on Russian oil."

Germany is a leading nation in Europe and so are we are counting on this leading role," he added. 

-Reuters

April 14 2022 - 15:45

Russia warns of nuclear, hypersonic deployment if Sweden and Finland join NATO

One of Russian President Vladimir Putin's closest allies warned NATO on Thursday that if Sweden and Finland joined the U.S.-led military alliance then Russia would deploy nuclear weapons and hypersonic missiles in an exclave in the heart of Europe.

Finland, which shares a 1,300-km (810-mile) border with Russia, and Sweden are considering joining the NATO alliance. Finland will decide in the next few weeks, Prime Minister Sanna Marin said on Wednesday.

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, said that should Sweden and Finland join NATO then Russia would have to strengthen its land, naval and air forces in the Baltic Sea.

April 14 2022 - 15:37

Stranded seafarers escape Ukraine, others trapped - ILO, sources

A portion of the estimated 1,000 seafarers trapped in Ukraine have escaped, the International Labour Organization and industry officials told Reuters, voicing concern for those remaining trapped onboard ships or unaccounted for.

Several foreign cargo ships have been struck by crossfire in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began on Feb. 24. UN agencies have called for urgent action to protect some 1,000 seafarers from at least 20 countries, including in the besieged city of Mariupol that has been under bombardment for weeks.

An estimated 100 vessels have been prevented from departing because of risks of drifting sea mines, industry sources say.

Fabrizio Barcellona, Seafarers' Section Coordinator at The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), said the "vast bulk" of the seafarers who are from India, Syria, Egypt, Turkey the Philippines and Bangladesh as well as Ukraine and Russia had left, travelling overland to Poland and Romania.

He cited information from Philippine government sources saying that 83 of an original 480 seafarers of Philippines nationality remain stranded. Philippine authorities were not immediately available for comment. "A small number (of the estimated 1,000) remain stranded and unable to return home due to the ongoing threat of potential military crossfire," he said.

An ILO spokesperson said in an emailed response to Reuters that some seafarers are still trapped on their ships, within earshot of shellfire, without giving details. Others had been disembarked, including some who were repatriated home, while others were under the protection of the Ukrainian army.

Russia said on Wednesday it had taken control of Mariupol's trading port and had freed "hostages" from vessels.

On 11 April a letter was circulated to the International Maritime Organization members by Dominica maritime authorities about its ship that sank in Mariupol this month, saying that the crew was hiding on other vessels "under an immense amount of intense fear and distress."Barcellona said the ITF, which represents some 200 seafarers' unions, had been seeking to establish "blue corridors" but said this was impossible due to mines.

The International Committee of the Red Cross urged parties to the conflict to allow civilians, including commercial crews, to leave and said it would raise this with authorities. 

Reuters 

April 14 2022 - 15:35

Russia says Ukraine helicopters strike homes in cross-border attack

Russian officials on Thursday said Ukrainian helicopters had hit residential buildings and injured seven people in the Bryansk region, the latest of a series of cross-border attacks that Moscow has said may trigger a retaliatory attack on Kyiv.

The governor of the Belgorod region said a village there was also attacked, but that no one was injured.

Ukraine's defence ministry, which has declined to comment on several border incidents including a strike on a fuel depot in the city of Belgorod earlier this month, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on reports of cross-border attacks.

"On April 14, 2022, using two combat helicopters equipped with heavy offensive weapons, military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine illegally entered the airspace of the Russian Federation," Russia's investigative committed said in a statement.

"Moving at low altitude, they carried out at least six air strikes on residential buildings in the village of Klimovo," it said. Six buildings were damaged and seven people were injured, the statement said.

A health ministry official saying two people had been seriously injured, RIA news agency reported.

Bryansk region authorities closed schools for fear of further strikes, TASS news agency reported.

Vehicles were damaged when a border post came under mortar fire from Ukraine near Klimovo on Wednesday, Russia's FSB security service told state television.

Russia's defence ministry on Wednesday said the continuation of "sabotage and attacks" by Ukrainian forces could trigger strikes on Kyiv.

"If such incidents continue, then consequence from the armed forces of the Russian Federation will be attacks on decision making centres, including in Kyiv, which the Russian army has refrained from to date," the defence ministry said.

Authorities in four Russian regions bordering Ukraine and in Russian-controlled Crimea announced they were stepping up security measures on Monday over what they said were "possible provocations" from the Ukrainian side.

Moscow's incursion into Ukraine, the biggest attack on a European state since 1945, has seen more than 4.6 million people flee abroad, killed or wounded thousands and left Russia increasingly isolated on the world stage.

The Kremlin says it launched a "special military operation" to demilitarise and "denazify" Ukraine. Kyiv and its Western allies reject that as a false pretext for an unprovoked attack.

Reuters 

April 14 2022 - 15:20

Village in Russia's Belgorod region hit by Ukrainian shelling - Governor

A village in Russia's Belgorod region has come under fire from Ukraine, the region's governor said on Thursday, the latest of a series of reported cross-border attacks.

"The village of Spodaryushino has been subjected to fire from Ukraine," Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a post on the Telegram messaging service. He said no one had been injured and that the village and one other settlement had been evacuated.

Ukraine's defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on allgeations of cross-border shelling.

Reuters 

April 14 2022 - 14:53

Putin tells Europe: You cannot ditch Russian gas but we’re turning east

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Moscow will work to re-direct its energy eastward as European countries try to reduce reliance on Russian exports, adding that Europe will not be able to completely shun Russian gas immediately.

Russia has been forging closer ties with Asia and China, the world's top energy consumer, trying to diversify away deliveries from its traditional supply markets in Europe.

Western sanctions over Moscow's military operation in Ukraine have hit Russian energy exports by complicating financing of the deals and logistics.

"What's astonishing is that the so-called partners from unfriendly countries concede themselves that they won't be able to make do without Russian energy resources, including without natural gas, for example," Putin told a televised government meeting.

"There is no rational replacement (for gas) in Europe now.

"He also said that Europe, by talking about cutting off energy supplies from Russia, was driving up prices and destabilising the market.

"Unfriendly countries admit that they cannot do without Russian energy resources", Putin said.

Russia's "special military operation" in Ukraine has triggered an overhaul of the 27-country EU's energy priorities as Brussels seeks to wrest countries free from depending on Russia, which supplies around 40% of the bloc's natural gas.

Putin said that Russia will need to build infrastructure to boost its energy supplies to Asia.

Russia started pipeline gas supplies to China in the end of 2019 after years of painstaking talks and agreeing to cutting prices for the fuel. 

Reuters 

April 14 2022 - 13:55

Ukraine deputy PM says new prisoner swap agreed with Russia

Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said a new prisoner swap had been agreed with Russia and that in total 30 Ukrainians would be going home on Thursday.

Vereshchuk added that the 30 Ukrainians included five officers and 17 soldiers, plus eight civilians. 

Reuters 

April 14 2022 - 13:30

US can't confirm yet what damaged Russian warship - Pentagon

The United States does not have enough information now to confirm what caused an explosion on a Russian warship that Ukraine has claimed was caused by one of its missiles, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said on Thursday.

"We don't know what caused that explosion," Kirby said in an interview on MSNBC.

"We've seen the social media reports that this was maybe a Ukrainian coastal defense missile (that) hit it. We can't rule that out, we just don't have enough information right now," he said. 

Reuters 

April 14 2022 - 11:53

Russian companies, global banks could reap windfall from depositary receipt delisting

Russian companies and global banks including BNY Mellon, Deutsche Bank, Citigroup and JPMorgan could profit if Moscow moves to de-list Russian companies' depositary receipts from foreign exchanges, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The potential windfall is due to the fees that bank issuers of depositary receipts can contractually charge investors when they cancel the product.

It is unclear how much companies and banks could make or if banks will charge the fees and risk angering investors who say it would be unfair given the extraordinary circumstances which have been triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

April 14 2022 - 09:36

Russia says blast cripples Black Sea flagship, Ukraine claims missile strike

Russia said on Thursday the flagship of its Black Sea fleet was seriously damaged and its crew evacuated following an explosion that a Ukrainian official said was the result of a missile strike. 

Russia's defence ministry said a fire on the Moskva missile cruiser caused ammunition to blow up, Interfax news agency reported.

It did not say what caused the fire but Maksym Marchenko, the Ukrainian governor of the region around the Black Sea port of Odesa, said the Moskva had been hit by two Ukrainian-made Neptune anti-ship cruise missiles.

April 14 2022 - 08:29

Putin assured me gas supply is safe, Austrian leader tells APA

Russian President Vladimir Putin told Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer when they met this week that Austria's supply of gas from Russia is safe and the country can continue to pay for it in euros, Nehammer told national news agency APA.

Nehammer met Putin near Moscow on Monday and had until now not publicly mentioned their discussion on Austria's security of gas supply.

The country obtains 80% of its natural gas from Russia and opposes an immediate European Union gas embargo on Russia, arguing it is not possible for the time being.

Putin said "that the gas supply is secured, that Russia will deliver the contractually agreed quantities and that payments can continue to be made in euros", APA on Thursday quoted Nehammer as saying in an interview carried out on Wednesday. 

Reuters 

April 14 2022 - 07:00

Ukrainian grandmother survives, with her chickens

An 82-year-old Ukrainian grandmother, who lived through World War Two and the breakup of the Soviet Union, has survived the Russian occupation of her town, with her chickens

April 14 2022 - 06:30

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT – U.S. to send Ukraine $800 million more in military aid

US President Joe Biden announced an additional $800 million in military assistance to Ukraine, expanding the scope of the systems provided to include heavy artillery ahead of a wider Russian assault expected in eastern Ukraine.

April 14 2022 - 06:15

Russia was committing atrocities in Ukraine even before the war

An annual human rights report by the US state department contends that authoritarianism around the world is threatening human rights and democracy, most strikingly as Russia continues its attack on Ukraine.

Painting a picture of deteriorating human rights globally, the report for 2021 — before Russia’s February invasion — says Russian-led forces in the Donbas region of Ukraine engaged “in unlawful or widespread civilian harm, enforced disappearances or abductions and torture and physical abuses or punishment”. Russia has denied committing such abuses.

Speaking at a news briefing as the report was released on Tuesday, US secretary of state Antony Blinken said worse atrocities may yet unfold in Ukraine as Russian forces push to take Mariupol.

April 14 2022 - 06:00

Battle for Donbas will define course of war in Ukraine, say analysts

Russia is beefing up its forces for a new assault on Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, setting the stage for a protracted battle that is certain to inflict heavy losses on both sides as the Russians try to encircle Ukraine’s fighters, analysts say.

Military analysts are wary of predicting who will win the battle for Ukraine’s industrial heartland of Donbas, a crucial conflict that will probably be brutal and ultimately define the course of the war.

“The outcome of the battle could be that both sides will be battered to the point where neither will be able to conduct an offensive or a counteroffensive,” said Konrad Muzyka, director of the Poland-based Rochan consultancy.

“Ukrainians will defend their land to the last man. The Russians will incur significant losses.”