(Finance) – The UN Security Council should hold one new public meeting on the war in Ukraine on Thursday, in light of the continuing deterioration of the humanitarian situation on the ground. The meeting – according to diplomatic sources – was requested by France and Mexico and is part of the effort of Western countries to maintain pressure on Russia.
In the 76th day of the war the Russians – the Odessa city council said citing the southern operational command – have launched the fourth missile attack on the bridge across the Dniester estuary in Ukraine. “A cruise missile – the note reads – hit the Odessa region again. The enemy continues to attack the already damaged bridge over the Dniester estuary”.
“At the moment, neither the Russians nor the Kiev forces are winning in Ukraine. There is a stalemate in the war,” said the General Scott Berrier, director of US military intelligence services, in a hearing in the defense committee of the Senate -. The approach to take now is to wait and see. The stalemate could last a long time, there are no signs of a turning point in the short term. “Also from the US, the American director of national intelligence, Avril Haines warns all NATO allies.” All allies must do their part to support Ukraine in the war against Russia – said Haines, commenting on the fact that most of the NATO countries have not yet increased their defense spending, bringing it to 2% of GDP as the United States has long been asking for – . We can continue our support if everyone gives their contribution “.
This afternoon, meanwhile, there German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock met the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who personally thanked Germany for its help. Baerbock is the first representative of the Scholz government to visit Ukraine since the start of the war. On the occasion of the visit, you Baerbock also confirmed that in a few days the joint German-Dutch training of Ukrainian soldiers will begin in Germany. The latter will have to learn how to use the PzH 2000 self-propelled howitzer, which will shortly be supplied to Kiev. Minister Baerbock added that Berlin is working with German companies to provide Ukraine with “state-of-the-art systems to protect its cities from future attacks”. “It was a significant meeting – said Zelensky -. The support of your countries is important and precious to us. Thank you for being in solidarity with the Ukrainian people today. I think that together we can win. Winning means returning all rights to Ukraine and the freedoms of our citizens on our territory “.
During the briefing with the German colleague Baerbock the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba defined theaccession of Ukraine to the European Union a “question of war or peace” in Europe. “Now is the time to take the next step and bring Ukraine home, assigning it candidate status for EU membership – added Kuleba -. If Ukraine does not receive candidate status for EU membership. ‘EU will mean a deception on the part of the EU that Ukraine will not swallow “.
Always today the european commission has decided to exclude the shipping sector from the progressive ban on Russian oil, to try to reach an agreement on this controversial measure, on which it already has many difficulties in proceeding. According to reports from the Financial Times, which cites several anonymous sources close to the issue, on the hypothesis of also banning the use of European oil tankers for the trafficking of Russian crude oil, Greece and Malta were ready to barricade. This is why the idea, which according to the newspaper had been put on the table last week, has already been abandoned. In parallel, on the proposed rapid stop to Russia’s oil imports, Hungary continues to get in the way of Victor Orbanwhich yesterday had a bilateral with the president of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. Budapest is particularly resolute on this front, given that unlike many other countries it has no outlets to the sea, and cannot procure crude oil even through oil tankers, thus being much more tied to Russia by having to get the crude oil through pipelines.
“We are united in condemning the invasion of Ukraine, united in sanctions and in helping Ukraine as President Zelensky asked us,” said the Prime Minister Mario Draghi meeting Joe Biden at the Summit at the White House.