During the sowing campaign-2022, Ukraine sowed 13.4 million hectares of land with the main agricultural crops, which is 93% of the 14.4 million hectares planned for the current season, including 0.22 sown during the week (June 3-9) million hectares, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food announced on Friday.
According to the data published on its website, as of June 9, the area under sunflower crops is 4.69 million hectares (95% of the 4.93 million hectares planned for 2022), corn – 4.63 million hectares (95% of 4.85 million ha), spring barley – 951.2 thousand ha (93% of 1.02 million ha), spring wheat – 191.1 thousand ha (sowing completed), oats – 159.2 thousand ha (97% of 163 .6 thousand ha), peas – 130.6 thousand ha (89% of 145.7 thousand ha).
In addition, the sown area under potatoes is 1.11 million hectares (93% of 1.19 million hectares), soybeans – 1.21 million hectares (97% of 1.25 million hectares), sugar beet – 182.1 thousand hectares. ha (88% of 206.9 thousand ha), spring rapeseed – 33.4 thousand ha (sowing completed), millet – 48.5 thousand ha (78% of 62.3 thousand ha), buckwheat – 74 .9 thousand ha (92% of 81.6 thousand ha).
The Ministry of Agrarian Policy clarified that the area sown this season has already amounted to 81.7% of the indicators of last year, in which 16.92 million hectares were sown.
The ministry stressed that harvesting of winter crops will begin in some regions from next week. They were sown in 2021 on a total area of 7.7 million hectares, including 6.5 million hectares under winter wheat, 1 million hectares under barley, and 0.16 million hectares under rye.
As reported, due to the military aggression of the Russian Federation in Ukraine this season, a reduction in the acreage of high-margin crops (sunflower and corn) is expected while increasing the acreage of crops that are easier to produce, but important in terms of food security – peas, barley and oats.
Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal announced on April 20 that Ukraine will sow approximately 14.2 million hectares of agricultural land this season, which is 80% of last year’s figure of 16.9 million hectares.
Earlier, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy estimated the sown area under spring crops in 2022 at 13.44 million hectares compared to 16.92 million hectares in 2021.
Rostislav Shurma, Deputy Head of the President’s Office, called the goal of Ukraine in 2022 to harvest at least 70% of last year’s volumes.
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said she had arrived in Kyiv and intended to meet with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky.
“Good to be back in Kyiv. With President Volodymyr Zelensky I will take stock of the joint work needed for reconstruction and of the progress made by Ukraine on its European path,” she said on Twitter.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that the world must always support proactive measures to prevent violence.
He said this on Saturday at the 19th Asia Shangri-La Dialogue Security Summit, answering a question about what can be done to counter China’s campaign of economic and military coercion against Taiwan.
“I think that today’s example of Ukraine is an example for the whole world. The world must always support any action related to pre-emptive measures so that there is no war,” he said.
According to Zelensky, “there is no positive from the war in the world. No one gets a positive, except for some political leaders who daily increase their ambitions because of their political appetite.”
“The world should decide everything diplomatically. Support states that need it. Do not leave this or that state alone with another state, which may be stronger financially, territorially, in terms of weapons. If problems can be solved by diplomacy, they must be solved,” he said.
“But do not turn on after the war starts, when there are tens and hundreds of thousands of victims. The war does not benefit anyone except the ambitions of some people,” Zelensky stressed.
According to Olivia Enos, senior political analyst at the Center for Asian Studies, the Chinese delegation left the hall during Zelensky’s speech.
Dynamics of balance of payments of Ukraine (USD mln)
NBU
Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe on Friday at a meeting with Pentagon Chief Lloyd Austin said that Beijing is ready for military action if anyone makes an attempt to separate Taiwan from China, reports the Chinese edition of Global Times, citing a representative of the defense departments of the People’s Republic of China Wu Qian.
“According to Wu Qian’s statement, Wei Fenghe said that if anyone dares to separate Taiwan from China, the Chinese military will not hesitate to fight and resolutely suppress any attempt at ‘Taiwan independence’ at any cost, and will firmly defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity.” , – writes the edition.
According to him, the Chinese defense minister also condemned the recent US decision to send arms to Taiwan again. He stated that this “caused serious damage to China-US relations, as well as peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”
Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin held a bilateral meeting on Friday in Singapore, where a security forum is being held. According to Chinese media company Caixin, Wei Fenghe noted that the meeting lasted about an hour and was “honest and successful.” The Pentagon said that the parties discussed issues of global and regional security, the topics of the DPRK, Russia and Ukraine, as well as Taiwan.
“The minister stressed the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, rejection of a unilateral change in the status quo, and urged China to refrain from destabilizing actions against Taiwan,” the ministry said in a statement.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said he was not ready to “ask” Moscow for peace.
“I am not ready to ask for the independence of our state. It already belongs to us, ”he said on Friday, speaking via video link to students and teachers of British universities.
Asked about possible peace talks, Zelensky said that “I understood all the years of my presidency that any war must end with a negotiating table.” “I understand that diplomacy can save people. I understand this, but, unfortunately, the President of the Russian Federation does not understand this,” he said.
Zelensky believes that “if Ukraine were in NATO, there would still be a battle for independence, but it would be different.” “There would not have been so many losses, there could have been a small military conflict or provocations, but we would have saved a large number of people,” he said.