The European Union will provide an additional EUR 500 million in military assistance to Ukraine, bringing the total amount of aid to EUR 2 billion, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said on Friday.
He said the European Union would provide a new tranche of EUR 500 million to provide military assistance to Ukraine, thus, bringing the total amount to EUR 2 billion.
The export of Ukrainian agricultural products through the EU countries, taking into account deliveries through the Danube river ports, cannot exceed 1.5 million tonnes per month under any circumstances, while before the blockade of its seaports by the Russian troops, the country could monthly transship over 5 million tonnes of agricultural crops per month.
An opinion about a need for Ukraine to work on the launch of new logistics routes and export directions was expressed by First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Taras Vysotsky during the expert discussion “Blocked trade: can Ukraine increase export capacity” on Friday.
“We preliminary calculated that up to 1.5 million tonnes are still the maximum. Therefore, I think that we can count on this until May, and then only alternative directions,” Vysotsky said.
He clarified that Ukraine has enough agricultural products for export, and Ukrainian farmers can supply as much grain as they need to foreign markets, and the volume of its exports is limited only by logistics.
As reported with reference to Minister of Agrarian Policy Mykola Solsky, in April 2022 Ukraine exported 1.09 million tonnes of grain mainly through Romanian ports, which is more than five times higher than in March.
According to him, most of the export deliveries from Ukraine were carried out in April through the Danube river ports, since the Ukrainian Black Sea ports are blocked by Russian warships.
At the same time, the logistics of Ukrainian agricultural products through Romania may become more complicated and slow down in June, when a new crop of Romanian, Serbian, Hungarian and Bulgarian winter wheat and barley will begin to arrive at the seaports of this country and will create competition with supplies from Ukraine.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said he was ready for negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but without his intermediaries and on the terms of dialogue, not ultimatums.
“I am ready to talk with Putin. But only with him. Without any of his intermediaries. And on the terms of dialogue, and not on the terms of ultimatums,” Zelensky said in an interview with the Italian TV channel Rai 1, published on the head of state’s Telegram channel. on Friday.
At the same time, the president noted that the very issue of negotiations with Putin is becoming more complicated day by day.
“Because every day (Russia – IF) small, I would say, towns are occupied, where they live or lived, unfortunately, we state that people lived. Because many of them left their homes. And many people were killed. When we If we de-occupy these places, we see traces of bullying, executions and destruction of infrastructure by the Russian military. And it is precisely because of this that the moments regarding the possibility of negotiations become more complicated,” he said.
Also, according to him, the Ukrainian society itself is not positive about the negotiations between the President of Ukraine and the President of Russia.
Answering the question of what kind of world Ukraine wants, Zelensky replied that it should be Russia’s respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, traditions and people, language and people, society and independence.
“All this was violated by the Russian Federation. It needs to be restored. What does this mean? Withdraw your troops. I’m not saying that we need to return all the loot – but these are not values for us. Values are living people … Please go beyond the borders of our state” he summed up.
The European Commission has presented a set of actions to help Ukraine export agricultural products, the so-called “Solidarity Lanes.”
The plan was presented by European Commissioner for Transport Adina Vălean in Brussels on Thursday.
The European Commission said these proposals are presented as part of the EU solidarity reaction with Ukraine and will help Ukraine export its agricultural products. “Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its blockade of Ukrainian ports, Ukrainian grain and other agricultural goods can no longer reach their destinations. The situation is threatening global food security and there is an urgent need to establish alternative logistics routes using all relevant transport modes,” the European Commission said.
According to the European Commissioner, some 20 million tonnes of grains have to leave Ukraine in less than three months using the EU infrastructure. “This is a gigantesque challenge, so it is essential to coordinate and optimize the logistic chains, put in place new routes, and avoid, as much as possible, the bottlenecks. Our communication addresses the emergency solutions but also medium and long time measures to better connect and integrate Ukraine’s infrastructure with the EU one. For both short-term and long-term solutions, we will work with the Ukrainian authorities and in close collaboration, especially with the neighbouring Member States, who spared no effort in helping during this crisis,” Vălean said.
According to the press release issued in this regard, as of today, in spite of immediate efforts by the EU and its Member States to ease border crossings between Ukraine and the EU, thousands of wagons and lorries are waiting for clearance on the Ukrainian side. “The average current waiting time for wagons is 16 days, while it is up to 30 days at some borders. More grain is still stored and held back in Ukrainian silos ready for export. Among the challenges are differing rail gauge widths: Ukrainian wagons are not compatible with most of the EU rail network, so most goods need to be transhipped to lorries or wagons that fit the EU standard gauge. This process is time-consuming and transhipment facilities along the borders are scarce,” the European Commission said.
In address these obstacles and set up the Solidarity Lanes, the Commission, together with Member States and stakeholders, will work on the following priority actions in the short term.
The first priorities are additional freight rolling stock, vessels and lorries. “The Commission calls on EU market players to urgently make additional vehicles available. In order to match demand and supply and establish the relevant contacts, the Commission will set up a matchmaking logistics platform and ask Member States to designate dedicated Solidarity Lanes contact points (a ‘one-stop-shop’).”
Another priority is the capacity of transport networks and transshipment terminals: the export of Ukrainian agricultural products should be prioritized, and infrastructure managers should make rail slots available for these exports. “The Commission also calls on market players to urgently transfer mobile grain loaders to the relevant border terminals to speed up transhipment. A road transport agreement with Ukraine will also remove bottlenecks,” the European Commission said.
Among the priorities are customs operations and other inspections and storage of products in the EU. To this end, the Commission urges national authorities to apply maximum flexibility and to ensure adequate staffing to accelerate procedures at border crossing points.
In the medium to long term, the Commission will also work on increasing the infrastructure capacity of new export corridors and on establishing new infrastructure connections in the framework of the reconstruction of Ukraine. “The next round of Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) calls for proposals will allow support for projects improving transport connections to Ukraine, including for railway connections and rail-road terminals. Against this background, the Commission today adopted a Decision with a view to signing a high-level agreement with Ukraine, updating the maps for the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), as part of the Commission’s policy on extending the TEN-T to neighbouring countries.”
Quotes of interbank currency market of Ukraine (UAH for €1, in 01.03.2022-31.03.2022)
Ukrainian athletes won six medals on the eleventh day of the Deaflympic Games in Caxias do Sul (Brazil), the Ministry of Youth and Sports reported.
According to the press service of the ministry, at the XXIV Summer Deaflympics, the national deaflympics team of Ukraine on the eleventh day won 6 more awards – 3 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze.
In particular, Ukrainians won four awards in long-distance orienteering: Anna Fedoseeva and Alexander Sankin brought gold, Ruslan Nikolaenko and Anna Androsovich won silver and bronze, respectively.
The Ukrainian national team won two more awards in bullet shooting: Violeta Lykova won the gold medal in shooting from a small-caliber rifle from three positions, and Sergey Fomin won a bronze medal in high-speed shooting from a small-caliber pistol, 25 m.
Thus, Ukraine remains the absolute leader in the medal count with 116 awards, including 51 gold, 31 silver and 34 bronze medals.
