France will increase its total support to $2 billion, President Emmanuel Macron has said.
At the High-Level International Donor’s Conference for Ukraine in Warsaw on Thursday, Macron announced that France will increase its total support to $2 billion to meet the needs voiced by the President of Ukraine. France will continue to act in concert within the EU, with its European partners, as well as within the G7 and international financial institutions to collectively meet the needs of the Ukrainian state in the face of the catastrophe of this war.
According to the President, France has allocated a total of $1.7 billion for Ukraine in 2022.
“The humanitarian needs of the population and the economic situation of the country call for a new effort by the international community which meets the needs linked to the destruction of civilian infrastructure,” Macron said.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki believes that the European Union should grant Ukraine candidate status as soon as possible.
“Ukraine should be given as quickly as possible a candidate status for the European Union. I know how important it is for Ukrainian people to maintain their fighting spirit, their morale. It is extremely important. We must act with the perspective of a long distance,” he said Thursday in Warsaw after an International Donor’s Conference that raised $6.5 billion for Ukraine.
Morawiecki said “today we are faced with the question of what can we do for Ukrainians to survive, how can we help Ukraine to stand on its own feet.”
“Special obligations rest with those countries that have built energy dependence on Russia for years and sold weapons to it. I will not mention any particular member states. I know that the situation of countries differs from one to another, but unity is extremely important today,” the Polish prime minister said, referring to the sixth package of sanctions with a ban on Russian oil, which was recently introduced by the European Commission.
“The another package of sanctions this is what we have to do to decisively reply to all the atrocities of the war, to contribute to stop this war as quickly as possible. Today Ukraine is a pillar of our world,” he said.
The Foreign Disaster Response Fund (AKF) of the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs will allocate EUR41.96 million in humanitarian aid to Ukraine as part of the “Neighbors in Need” fundraising campaign in connection with the humanitarian catastrophe in the country as a result of Russia’s brutal war of aggression .
According to the Austrian Foreign Ministry, the decision was made by the government on June 4, this will be the largest payment from the AKF in history.
According to the release, due to the serious consequences of the war in Ukraine, which are felt far beyond the region, another EUR4 million will go to the World Food Program (WFP) for important work in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Libya.
“By a decision taken today by the Council of Ministers, the federal government is fulfilling its March pledge by doubling all donations for Ukraine received by Easter Monday as part of the ORF Neighbors in Need campaign,” Chancellor Carl Nehammer said in a statement.
He emphasized that Austria considers it its humanitarian duty to help alleviate the suffering of people in Ukraine, and recalled that since the beginning of the war, the country has already provided a number of emergency services, including the provision of EUR 17.5 million from the Foreign Assistance Fund and the supply of civilian ambulances, helmets, protective vests and fuel.
“It is very clear: we are on the side of the Ukrainian people. With EUR42 million, we want to provide quick and unbureaucratic assistance to Neighbors in Need. Together we can better support everyone who especially needs our help and solidarity,” said Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler thanking all donors.
According to the release, at least EUR15 million of the funds allocated by the government should be used to finance projects aimed at alleviating humanitarian hardships, especially for women and children, and at least EUR5 million should be allocated to organizations to work in Moldova, which has been particularly affected by the flow of refugees from Ukraine.
This increases the Austrian aid provided to Ukraine and other particularly affected countries since the start of the war of aggression with Russia, to a total of more than EUR80 million.
Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Serhiy Shkarlet says that about 24,000 Ukrainian teachers have moved abroad because of the war.
“As of today, approximately 24,000 teachers who left the territory of Ukraine have become registered,” Shkarlet said on national telethon Wednesday afternoon.
The minister also reported statistics he received from Poland’s education minister.
In particular, 40,000 Ukrainian children have already been enrolled in kindergartens in Poland, 140,000 in elementary school, 20,000 in high school and 500 students.
“But 40% of all children are taught in Ukrainian-speaking classes, particularly in Poland,” said the Minister.
The European Commission (EC), within the framework of the sixth package of sanctions against the Russian Federation, which is being prepared, considers it necessary to ban the import of all Russian oil to the EU, the head of the EC, Ursula von der Leyen, said on Wednesday.
“Today we will propose a ban on all Russian oil in Europe. This will be a complete ban on the import of oil from the Russian Federation, delivered by sea and through pipelines, crude and refined oil,” she said.
At the same time, she acknowledged that it would not be easy to take this step due to the serious dependence of a number of EU members on Russian oil, but the EU “simply must go for it.”
According to her, the embargo on Russian oil should be introduced “neatly” in order to give the EU time to find alternative oil suppliers and minimize the impact of sanctions on oil markets. She noted that the refusal of oil and refined petroleum products from the Russian Federation should take six months and be completed by the end of 2022.
The day before, the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, expressed confidence that the EU countries would agree to the imposition of new sanctions against Russia in the coming days.
In turn, Politico reported, citing unnamed EU diplomats, that the European Commission will propose transitional measures or an exception to oil sanctions for Slovakia and Hungary, given the degree of their dependence on Russian oil and the difficulty in finding alternative suppliers.
Metallurgical enterprises of Ukraine in January-April this year reduced steel production by 45.9% compared to the same period last year – to 3.858 million tonnes. According to the recent information of the Ukrainian Association of Secondary Metals (UAVtormet), in April, only one steel plant produced steel.
“Insignificant volumes of steel production were shown by some foundry enterprises,” the information of UAVtormet says.
In addition, it is reported that ferrous scrap enterprises for the four months of 2022 reduced procurement of scrap metal by 50.4% compared to the same period in 2021, to 620,100 tonnes.
The export of scrap metal for the specified period amounted to 7,100 tonnes, which is 12.3 times less compared to the four months of 2021 (87,000 tonnes). At the same time, scrap imports amounted to 100 tonnes, while in January-April 2021 – 7,800 tonnes.
The supply of scrap to the country’s steel enterprises in January-April 2022 decreased by 47.1% compared to January-April 2021, to 583,500 tonnes. The total volume of scrap metal supplies in April amounted to 52,500 tonnes.
The level of scrap metal stocks at steel enterprises as of May 1, 2022 is estimated at 60,000 tonnes.
