Germany creates the main difficulties for tightening sanctions against the Russian Federation, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said at a press conference on Monday. “This is Germany, which is the main hindrance to the sanctions,” Western media quoted the prime minister as saying. Hungary, according to Morawiecki, does not block the possibility of strengthening sanctions against Russia. On the eve of the President of the European Council Charles Michel said that the EU authorities are preparing for new sanctions against Russia.
The presence of specialists from the International Nuclear Energy Agency (IAEA) at Ukraine’s nuclear facilities is very important, and they will arrive there in the very near future, primarily at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, Director General of the agency Rafael Mariano Grossi HAS said.
“We see this as a step in the right direction. We are going to be there very soon, because in Chernobyl there is a lot of work to be done,” he said at a press conference in Vienna on Friday, following visits to Ukraine and Russia March 29 through March 31.
According to him, at this facility, due to power outages or physical damage, there could be a lot of things that could be turned off or fail. At the same time, during the occupation, remote monitoring of radiation indicators did not work.
Ukrainian specialists know how to do their job. But this does not mean that international assistance and cooperation will be superfluous, Grossi said.
According to him, the experience of operating nuclear power plants in the conditions of hostilities has shown that assessing the situation on the spot is much more reliable and efficient than using information from other sources.
In addition, the head of the agency added, it is necessary to check the safety of nuclear material. There are some things that can only be done by IAEA experts, Grossi added.
According to him, he does not know for what reason the Russian troops left the Chornobyl nuclear power plant. They did not tell him about why they left. He said that this could be the decision of the military authorities. And this is not what we discussed with the Russian side in Kaliningrad after a visit to Ukraine, the head of the IAEA said.
He called the general radiation situation around the Chornobyl nuclear power plant quite normal, while allowing some increase in radiation indicators during the withdrawal of troops, which was also observed during their entry to the plant site.
There was a relatively elevated level of localized radiation due to the movement of heavy vehicles during the occupation of the station. And, apparently, this could take place again at the exit, Grossi said.
He confirmed that he had heard about the possibility of radiation contamination of some of the Russian military, but noted that he had no evidence of this.
As for the provision of assistance to Ukraine, according to Grossi, due to hostilities, it may be complicated. However, the IAEA will try to provide it, he said.
In the case of Chornobyl, it is one thing, and in the case of the other plants, it is about the distance and the military situation. One of them remains under the control of the Russian forces. So this will undoubtedly require a different approach, but nothing makes Grossi think that this impossible to do, the head of the IAEA said.
He did not specify what kind of assistance could be discussed, referring to ongoing negotiations with the Ukrainian side on this issue, and asked journalists to be patient.
Commenting on the progress of his initiative on the necessary steps to reduce risks at Ukrainian nuclear facilities, Grossi said that he had abandoned the idea of a trilateral plan in favor of working on a bilateral basis.
Losses among civilians from February 24, when Russia started the war against Ukraine, until 24:00 on April 2, 2022, amounted to 3455 civilians (3342 in the report a day earlier), including 1417 dead (1325), reports the Office of the UN High Commissioner for human rights on resurrection. “OHCHR believes that the actual figures are much higher as information is delayed from some areas of intense fighting and many reports are still awaiting confirmation,” the document says. According to him, this applies, for example, to Mariupol and Volnovakha (Donetsk region), Izyum (Kharkiv region), Popasna (Luhansk region), Irpin (Kyiv region), where there are reports of numerous civilian casualties. They are subject to further verification and are not included in the above statistics. “The majority of civilian deaths or injuries were caused by the use of explosive devices with a wide area of effect, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems, as well as rocket and air strikes,” the report says. According to confirmed UN data, 293 men, 201 women, 40 boys and 22 girls died, while the sex of 59 children and 802 adults has not yet been determined. Among the 2,038 injured, 41 are girls and 38 boys, as well as 92 children whose gender has not yet been determined. Compared to the previous day, according to the UN, a child died and three more were injured. OHCHR points out that in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as of midnight on April 3, there were 401 (381) dead and 784 (793) injured in government-controlled territory, and 67 (67) dead and 252 (246) injured in territory controlled by self-proclaimed “republics”. In other regions of Ukraine under government control (in Kyiv, as well as in Zhytomyr, Zaporozhye, Kiev, Sumy, Odessa, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Dnepropetrovsk, Cherkasy and Chernihiv regions), the UN recorded 949 (877) dead and 1002 (978) injured . The report also states that, according to the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, as of 08:00 on April 3, 158 (158) children were killed and 258 (254) were injured. The increase in indicators in this report compared to the figures in the previous report should not be attributed only to new cases that occurred on April 2, since during the day OHCHR also verified a number of cases that occurred in previous days, the document specifies.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia, about 537 thousand citizens of Ukraine have returned to their homeland, the State Border Service of the country reports.
“Over the past week, 144,000 people left Ukraine. 88,000 arrived in Ukraine. In general, since the beginning of open aggression from the Russian Federation, about 537,000 of our compatriots have returned to Ukraine,” the Ministry of Internal Affairs said in a telegram message with reference to State Border Service data.
Main trade partners of Ukraine in % from total volume (export from Ukraine to other countries) in 2021
SSC of Ukraine
The humanitarian consequences of Russian aggression against Ukraine, as well as recommendations on spending on Ukraine in the EU budget, will be among the central topics of the plenary session of the European Parliament (EP), which will be held from April 4 to 7 in Strasbourg.
On Tuesday in Strasbourg, MEPs will discuss with the European Commission (EC) and the EU Council the possibilities of helping Ukrainian children fleeing military operations, in particular, protecting them from human trafficking and exploitation.
Following the launch on March 3 of a temporary protection mechanism for refugees from Ukraine, giving them the right to temporary EU residence, access to education and the labor market, the EC and the French Presidency of the Council of the EU are working on a 10-point plan that will “strengthen the common European response”. It will include the EU registration platform and the coordination of transport services for refugees, specific recommendations for the reception and support of children and adolescents from Ukraine. A corresponding resolution is expected to be adopted on Thursday.
According to UNICEF, almost half of Ukrainian refugees are minors who need enhanced protection as they are at greater risk of being trafficked and exploited.
The Ukrainian topic will also be in the parliamentary discussion on the priorities of the EU budget for 2023.
The MPs will call on the EU to “guarantee significant funding to address the geopolitical consequences of the current crisis, including support for humanitarian measures and ensuring preparedness for the reception of refugees in member states and in the countries of the Eastern Neighborhood.” On Tuesday, budget recommendations for 2023 will be put to a vote.
On Wednesday morning, the deputies will discuss the results of the March EU summit. The debate will be attended by European Council President Charles Michel and EC President Ursula von der Leyen, as well as High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell.
At the March 24-25 summit, EU leaders had a wide-ranging discussion about the Russian war against Ukraine, international restrictions against Russia and the overall implications for the EU economy, with a focus on energy prices. US President Joe Biden attended the meeting in person, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky remotely. A resolution will be adopted on the basis of the parliamentary debate on the results of the EU summit.
A separate debate on Tuesday evening will focus on the results of the EU-China Virtual Summit on Friday 1 April. It focused on the international consequences of Russian aggression in Ukraine and the position of China, as well as the future of bilateral relations between the EU and China, especially in the areas of trade and security.
On Tuesday, the session has time for questions and answers. The leaders of the European Council, the European Commission and the head of EU diplomacy will answer questions from European parliamentarians on a wide range of topics. Separately, the head of diplomacy Borrell will report. He will focus on the “Strategic Compass” – a project to strengthen the autonomy of the EU in the field of defense and security.
The agenda of the plenary session includes the traditional topics of the “green transition”, energy transformation, combating climate change, as well as human rights and the rule of law in Hungary and Poland and other issues.
On Wednesday, the EP will hold an urgent debate on human rights and on Thursday will adopt, respectively, three resolutions.
