UKRAINE WRAP | Ukraine's first lady to address US Congress on Wednesday

July 18 2022 - 21:09

Ukraine needs additional 4 bcm of gas for 2022/23 heating season - Naftogaz CEO

Ukraine's state oil and gas company Naftogaz is working with the government to raise $8 billion in funds to buy an additional 4 billion cubic metres of gas to get through the 2022/23 heating season, CEO Yuriy Vitrenko said.

Speaking on television, he said the government believed Ukraine needed 19 bcm of natural gas for the heating season - 4 bcm higher than the 15 bcm it would have been needed if it weren't for the war.

Ukraine already has 11.5 billion cubic metres of gas in storage and has secured funding to ensure the import of gas that would increase the size of the reserves to 15 bcm, Vitrenko said.

"We conducted negotiations with various credit organisations and international partners ... we had an understanding that as a national company we can receive financing to get the level to 15 bcm," he said.

"But since the government is setting the bar at a higher level - 19 billion cubic meters - we are now working with the government on how together we can find the money to buy another 4 billion cubic meters, which at current prices costs $8 billion. This is a huge amount of money.

"Naftogaz has asked its international creditors to defer payments on its debt for two years, fanning expectations that the government may soon do the same. On television, Vitrenko appealed to Naftogaz's bondholders to voluntarily agree for the company to postpone its Eurobond payments.

"Now it is necessary to help Ukraine import gas and then when we sell the gas... we can receive the funds in order to pay the Eurobonds," he said.

-Reuters

July 18 2022 - 20:05

Ukraine's first lady to address US Congress on Wednesday

Ukraine's first lady, Olena Zelenska, will deliver remarks to the U.S. Congress on Wednesday, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office said.

U.S. lawmakers will host Zelenska, the wife of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, at 11 a.m. (1500 GMT), Pelosi's office said in a statement on Monday.

-Reuters

July 18 2022 - 17:00

'Two sides of the coin': SA won’t change stance on Russia-Ukraine war

Social development minister Lindiwe Zulu, who is also the chairperson of the ANC subcommittee on international relations, says the government will not change its non-aligned position on Russia's invasion of Ukraine.  

She was addressing media on Monday on the party’s policy discussion document titled “In pursuit of progressive internationalism in a changing world”.  

In March, SA abstained during a UN General Assembly motion to reprimand Russia — a move criticised by some opposition parties, the US and EU, among others.

July 18 2022 - 16:42

Turkey will freeze Finland, Sweden's Nato bids if promises not kept

Turkey will freeze Finland and Sweden's Nato membership bids if the Nordic countries do not keep promises on counter-terrorism made last month, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday, adding he believed Sweden was "not showing a good image" for now.

Finland and Sweden applied for membership of the defence alliance in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but were met with opposition from Turkey, which accused the Nordic countries of supporting groups it deems terrorists. The three countries signed an accord at the Nato summit in Madrid last month to lift Ankara's veto in exchange for pledges on counter-terrorism and arms exports. Turkey has said it will closely monitor the implementation of the accord to ratify their membership bids.

– Reuters

July 18 2022 - 15:52

Turkey says Ukraine, Russia, UN meeting on grain corridor 'probable'

Officials from Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the UN will most likely meet this week to discuss resuming Ukraine's Black Sea grain exports, Ankara said on Monday, while a Turkish official said lingering "small problems" should be overcome.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine — two major global wheat suppliers — has sent prices for grains and other food products soaring. It has stalled Kyiv's exports, leaving dozens of ships stranded and some 20-million tonnes of grain stuck in silos at Odesa.

Last week Turkish defence minister Hulusi Akar said Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the UN would sign a deal this week on the grain exports corridor after talks in Istanbul. But UN chief Antonio Guterres warned there was still "a long way to go" before there would be peace talks to end the war.

"An agreement was reached on a plan, general principles for shipping grain and food products ... A meeting on this within the week is probable," Akar said on Monday. He said technical matters like forming a monitoring centre in Istanbul, identifying safe routes, and checkpoints at port exits and entries were on the agenda.

Separately, a senior Turkish official said there was a high probability the quartet would sign a deal this week. "However there are a couple of small problems. Negotiations continue to overcome these," the official said, adding that any positive steps were affected by an attack or other major developments occurring in the war. "But there is a general expectation that it will be signed this week. I am quite optimistic. It won't take long before a final agreement is reached," the person added.

At the weekend, Russia vowed to step up military operations in Ukraine as its rockets and missiles pounded cities. A Kremlin aide told reporters on Monday that the presidents of Russia and Turkey would discuss the issue during a meeting in Tehran on Tuesday.

– Reuters

July 18 2022 - 15:48

Gazprom declares force majeure on some European gas buyers

Gazprom PJSC has declared force majeure on at least three European gas buyers, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Russian gas giant, which had already been curbing supplies to Europe and has closed its main pipeline for maintenance, said in a letter dated July 14 that the force majeure notice applied to supplies over the past month. Gazprom said it isn’t able to fulfil its long-term contracts to supply gas due to unforeseen circumstances, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Gazprom had no immediate comment.

Gazprom has been delivering less gas than ordered by customers over the past month. The company cited problems with turbines that compress the gas that goes into the Nord Stream pipeline connecting Russia to Germany, while Ukraine has shut one of the entry point on the border with Russia to ensure safety after forces invaded a key compressor station. Reuters reported the move earlier. European gas prices were unchanged.

– Bloomberg

July 18 2022 - 15:42

Poland to boost coal imports, subsidies amid Russia sanctions

Poland will develop new types of coal subsidies for consumers and boost imports to make sure it has enough fuel for the heating season amid shortages and surging prices.

The EU's largest coal producer, dependent on the fuel for some 80% of its electricity generation, in April banned imports of coal from Russia in response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. It introduced subsidies designed to keep prices for smaller buyers at last year's level earlier this month, but retailers are reluctant to participate in the system as payments aren't compensating for the surge in market prices.

"There's not much interest from private companies to participate in the subsidies system, hence we will work out new solutions to compensate consumers for the high coal prices," cabinet spokesperson Piotr Muller said on Monday. He said the government will discuss new measures on Tuesday.

In an unusual move, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has also ordered two state companies to import 4.5-million tonnes of coal by the end of October to supply households amid the shortages caused by sanctions on Russia. Russian coal imports have mostly been used by individual households and heating plants in smaller towns. Poland imported more than 8-million tonnes of Russian coal in 2021 but the country's shortfall is as high as 11-million tonnes due to declining local production.

– Reuters

July 18 2022 - 14:08

Google fined $390m in Russia for not deleting banned content - Interfax

Alphabet's Google was fined 21.8-billion roubles ($387m or R6.65bn) by a Russian court for a repeated failure to remove content that Moscow deems illegal, the Interfax news agency reported on Monday. It was the second fine based on a percentage of Google's turnover in Russia after a penalty worth more than more than 7-billion roubles late last year. Google did not immediately respond to an e-mailed request for comment. – Reuters

July 18 2022 - 14:07

Putin: Russia cannot be cut off from rest of world

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday it would be impossible to cut Russia off from the rest of the world, and that the country must focus on developing its own technology and supporting fast-growing companies. "Clearly, we cannot develop in isolation from the rest of the world, but we won't. In today's world, you can't just, you know, circle everything with a compass and put up a huge fence, it's just not possible," Putin said, speaking to a video-conference with government figures. – Reuters

July 18 2022 - 13:27

Ukraine needs more external aid to prevent crisis — adviser

Foreign partners need to increase their financial support for Ukraine to help the country maintain financial stability during the war with Russia, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidential office said on Monday. Tymofiy Mylovanov said the current size of loans and other assistance was not enough to finance the state's needs, which had increased significantly because of the war while revenues had fallen. "If we don't cut expenditures, don't increase inflows, in particular from international partners, if we don't stabilise the situation, then ... we may have a month or two to spare, and then we will have a crisis," Mylovanov told national television. – Reuters

July 18 2022 - 12:47

UK regulator finds Russian channel RT broke impartiality rules

Britain's media regulator, Ofcom, said Russian news channel RT had failed to preserve due impartiality in relation to its coverage of the conflict in the Donbas region of Ukraine.

"Ofcom considers that these breaches were serious and repeated, and we are minded to consider them for the imposition of a statutory sanction," the regulator, which suspended RT's licence in March, said.

Ofcom had cited RT's links to the Kremlin when it cancelled its licence to broadcast in the UK in March, saying that RT had received funding from the Russian state. The watchdog had launched 29 investigations into RT after complaints from viewers and its own monitoring of the channel. The breaches related to its coverage of the conflict in late February and early March.

In response to the findings, RT said: "The logic of these decisions mirrors the one guiding their delivery many months after Ofcom's revocation of RT's licence: it is a trial after a conviction."

– Reuters

July 18 2022 - 11:48

Russian shelling kills six in east Ukrainian town - emergency service

Six people were killed in Russian shelling of the town of Toretsk in the Donetsk region of east Ukraine on Monday, the State Emergency Service said. Rescuers retrieved five bodies from the rubble of a two-storey house and another person died in hospital, it said on Facebook. Russia denies deliberately targeting civilians. – Reuters

July 18 2022 - 10:52

Balkan countries sign deal to unlock EU enlargement talks

Two Balkan states signed an agreement that will allow North Macedonia and Albania to formally start negotiations to join the EU, a process long-delayed by bilateral quarrels between countries in the volatile region.

Bujar Osmani, North Macedonia’s foreign minister, signed the protocol with his Bulgarian counterpart in Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital, on Sunday. The move came a day after North Macedonia’s parliament approved a EU proposal that aims to help resolve a Balkan dispute and unlock the organisation’s enlargement. Bulgaria had for years blocked the start of accession talks due to a conflict over the recognition of the Macedonian language and the rights of Bulgarian nationals within North Macedonia.

Albania’s negotiations were also delayed, as it has been coupled with North Macedonia in the membership procedures

The document signed Sunday will guide Bulgaria and North Macedonia through resolving the disagreements. “For us it’s a historic opportunity that after 17 years of candidate status the Republic of North Macedonia gets the opportunity to start accession negotiations with the European Union,” Osmani told reporters.

On Saturday, 68 lawmakers in North Macedonia’s 120-member assembly voted in favour of a motion to let the government back a framework for negotiations offered by the EU. By approving the EU proposal, “we remain on the only road to which nobody offered an alternative,” Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski had said on Thursday at the start of a debate that lasted for three days. “We’re starting to quickly move and change the country in the process of negotiations.”

The deal may allow North Macedonia to hold its first intergovernmental conference with the EU — the formal start of negotiations — “within the next few days,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told lawmakers in Skopje.

The US state department welcomed the Saturday’s vote. “We recognise the difficult tradeoffs considered in this compromise, which acknowledges and respects North Macedonia’s cultural identity and the Macedonian language,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an e-mailed statement.   

– Bloomberg

July 18 2022 - 10:22

Russia, US Agree to resume ride sharing for space station missions

The US and Russian space agencies have agreed to resume having crew members ride to the International Space Station on each others’ rockets, Nasa said on Friday. The arrangement with Roscosmos will send an integrated crew to the space station in September, Nasa said in an e-mailed news release. Crews shared rides during the US space shuttle programme that ended in 2011.

“Flying integrated crews ensures there are appropriately trained crew members on board the station for essential maintenance and spacewalks,” Nasa said in an e-mailed statement.

Tension following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threatened to extend to space cooperation. In April the then-head of Roscosmos said Russia would pull out of the space station in response to Western sanctions. Nasa Administrator Bill Nelson said that wasn’t the case. On Friday, the Russian official who spoke of withdrawing from the station was replaced as general director of Roscosmos.

A US astronaut will join a launch September 21 on the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. A cosmonaut will join a mission in September on SpaceX Crew-5 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Nasa said.

Five space agencies — from Canada, Europe, Japan, the US and Russia — operate the station, and none can operate there without the cooperation of the others, Nasa said.

– Bloomberg

July 18 2022 - 09:25

H&M to exit Russia at $190m cost after purging inventory

H&M AB decided to start winding down its operations in Russia, having halted all sales in the country in March after Russia’s attack on Ukraine. The Swedish fashion retailer expects to book costs of 2-billion kronor ($190m or R3.23bn) from the process, of which about 1-billion kronor will have a cash flow impact, it said in a statement on Monday. It plans to reopen physical stores in Russia for a limited period of time to sell remaining inventory. “After careful consideration, we see it as impossible given the current situation to continue our business in Russia,” CEO Helena Helmersson said. – Bloomberg

July 18 2022 - 09:22

Russia using mercenary group Wagner to reinforce Ukraine frontlines: UK

British military intelligence said on Monday that Russia has used the private military contractor Wagner to reinforce its frontline forces in the Ukraine conflict. Wagner is lowering its recruitment standards and hiring convicts and formerly blacklisted individuals, potentially impacting Russian military effectiveness, the ministry of defence said in an intelligence update. – Reuters

July 18 2022 - 09:21

Russian defence minister: prioritise destroying Ukrainian missiles

Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu has instructed the military to prioritise destroying Ukraine's long-range missile and artillery weapons, the defence ministry said on Monday. Kyiv says it has carried out a string of successful strikes on 30 Russian logistics and ammunitions hubs, using several multiple launch rocket systems recently supplied by the West. – Reuters

July 18 2022 - 09:18

Canada sent repaired turbine for Nord Stream to Germany - Kommersant

Canada sent a turbine for the Nord Stream gas pipeline to Germany by plane on July 17 after repair work had been completed, Kommersant newspaper reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the situation. It will take another five to seven days for the turbine to reach Russia if there are no problems with logistics and customs, the daily said. – Reuters

July 18 2022 - 06:30

Ukraine's president fires security service chief and prosecutor-general

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy issued executive orders late on Sunday dismissing the State Security Service head and the prosecutor-general.

The orders dismissing domestic security chief Ivan Bakanov, a childhood friend of Zelenskiy, and prosecutor-general Iryna Venediktova, who leads the effort to prosecute Russian war crimes in Ukraine, were published on the president's official website.

No reason was immediately given for the sackings.

- Reuters

July 18 2022 - 05:30

Russia prepares for next stage of Ukraine offensive in face of new Western weapons

Russia is preparing for the next stage of its offensive in Ukraine, a Ukrainian military official said, after Moscow said its forces would step up military operations in "all operational areas".

As Western deliveries of long-range arms begin to help Ukraine on the battlefield, Russian rockets and missiles have pounded cities in strikes that Kyiv says have killed dozens in recent days."

It is not only missile strikes from the air and sea," Vadym Skibitskyi, a spokesman for Ukrainian military intelligence, said late on Saturday. "We can see shelling along the entire line of contact, along the entire front line. There is an active use of tactical aviation and attack helicopters."

- Reuters