US President Joseph Biden’s administration is preparing to announce a new arms package for Ukraine next week, Reuters reports.
“The composition of the next arms aid package is still under development and is due to be unveiled on Wednesday at the 16th meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels, where security assistance will be a key topic, officials said. The amount of aid is expected to be about $200 million and may include ammunition and ground equipment similar to those in recent aid packages,” the report said.
It is noted that the US Department of Defense continues to spend funds identified as a result of a multibillion-dollar accounting error. These funds have allowed the Biden administration to send weapons, materials, and ammunition to Kyiv, despite the fact that new aid to Ukraine was excluded from the temporary spending bill passed by the House of Representatives last weekend to prevent a government shutdown. However, the Pentagon still has approximately $5.4 billion available under the Presidential Decision Authority (PDA) granted by Congress, after the Pentagon revealed in June that an accounting error had overstated the cost of arms delivered to Ukraine by $6.2 billion.
In addition, Biden is asking Congress to approve another $24 billion for Ukraine, which supporters of aid to Ukraine, both Republicans and Democrats, had hoped might become law as part of the spending bill. This request has not yet been considered.
Passenger flow through western border of Ukraine in July 2023, thousand
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
Agrarians in all regions of Ukraine harvested 46.7 mln tonnes of grains and oilseeds, including 32.308 mln tonnes of grains and 14.43 mln tonnes of oilseeds, the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food reported.
According to the report, grain and leguminous crops were harvested on an area of 7258 thousand hectares with a yield of 44.5 c/ha.
To date, Ukraine has harvested barley on 1505 thousand hectares (101% of the plan), from which 5.863 million tons were harvested; wheat – from 4695 thousand hectares (101%) 22.210 million tons were harvested; corn – from 414 thousand hectares (2%) 2.5 million tons. hectares (10.2%) 2.210 million tons; corn – from 414 thousand hectares (10.2%). hectares (10.2%) 2.585 million tons; peas – from 154.4 thousand hectares (103%) 396.8 thousand tons were harvested; millet – from 68.7 thousand hectares (82%) 155.1 thousand tons were harvested; buckwheat – from 122.4 thousand hectares (86%) 173.8 thousand tons were harvested.
In addition, other grains and pulses were harvested in the amount of 923.1 thou tons from 300 thou hectares.
Ukraine continues to harvest oilseeds, in particular, 4.005 mln tons of rapeseed (4.003 mln tons a week earlier) from the area of 1.396 mln hectares (98%), 7.308 mln tons of sunflower (5.031 mln tons a week earlier) from the area of 3.171 mln hectares (63%), and 3.118 mln tons (2.205 mln tons) from 504 thsd ha (67%).
Sugar beet was dug from the area of 68.4 thou hectares (49.6 thou hectares a week earlier), which is 27% of the planned area. The harvest amounted to 3.267 mln tons.
The Ministry of Agrarian Policy is monitoring the relevant information in connection with the revision of the harvest forecast for all crops. Thus, the yields of wheat, barley and peas are in line with last week’s figures – 47.3 c/ha, 39 c/ha and 25.7 c/ha, millet yields increased to 22.6 c/ha compared to 21.8 c/ha a week earlier, buckwheat yields decreased to 14.2 c/ha compared to 14.4 c/ha the previous week. The corn yield is 62.5 centners per hectare compared to 54.2 centners per hectare last week. The yield of rapeseed and soybeans remained unchanged at 28.7 c/ha and 25.6 c/ha, respectively, while sunflower yields dropped to 23.0 c/ha, down from 28.7 c/ha a week earlier. The yield of sugar beet increased to 477.5 c/ha compared to last week, when it was 462.2 c/ha.
As reported, this season’s winter wheat plantings amounted to 4166 thousand hectares (-834 thousand hectares compared to the previous one), winter barley – 536 thousand hectares (-255 thousand hectares), and rapeseed – 1374 thousand hectares (+110 thousand hectares).
According to the adjusted forecast of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, in 2023, farmers will be able to harvest 79.1 mln tons of grains and oilseeds, including the following volumes: wheat – 21.7 mln tons, barley – 5.7 mln tons and corn – 28.5 mln tons. Gross production of oilseeds will reach 21.6 million tons, including 13 million tons of sunflower, 4 million tons of rapeseed, and 4.6 million tons of soybeans. The sugar beet harvest is forecast at 13.7 million tons.
As reported, in the early spring of 2023, the total gross harvest for the current year was forecast at 63.5 million tons, or 13% less than in 2022. In June, after the start of the harvest, the forecast was raised to 68 million tons, or 7% less. In early September, due to favorable weather conditions, the forecast was revised upward to 76.7 million tons.
On Sunday, October 8, there will be rains in Ukraine (in Luhansk, Donetsk, Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia regions, sometimes heavy rain, in the northern part light rain), the Ukrainian Weather Center reported.
Southwest wind with a shift to northwest, 7-12 m/s, gusts of 15-20 m/s.
Temperature at night 5-10°, during the day 9-14°, in the northern regions 7-12° (in the highlands of the Carpathians at night and during the day 2-7° Celsius); in the southern part of the country at night 11-16°, during the day 16-21°.
In Kyiv on Sunday night, heavy rain, light rain during the day. Northwest wind, 7-12 m/s, gusts of 15-20 m/s. The temperature at night will be 7-9°, during the day 10-12°.
According to the data of the Borys Sreznevsky Central Geophysical Observatory. On October 8, the highest temperature during the day was 25.9 in 1935, and the lowest at night was -3.6 in 1926.
On Monday, October 9, at night in the southeastern part, during the day in Transcarpathia and Prykarpattia, light rain (in the Carpathians with wet snow); in the rest of the country, no precipitation.
The temperature at night will be 1-6 degrees Celsius, on the soil surface (in the Carpathians in the air) frosts of 0-5 degrees, during the day 5-10 degrees Celsius, in the south 10-15 degrees.
Northwest wind, 7-12 m / s, gusts of 15-20 m / s.
In Kyiv on Monday, October 9, the temperature at night will be 3-5 degrees Celsius, during the day 7-9 degrees. Northwest wind, 7-12 m/s, gusts of 15-20 m/s.
There is currently no technical possibility to evacuate Ukrainian citizens from Israel, people need to follow the commands coming from the government, said Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Yevhen Korniychuk.
“We do not have the technical ability to evacuate people. Therefore, as the president said earlier, and the embassy gave a wide comment on this, people should stay in the safest possible places, listen to the commands coming from the local government and strictly follow them,” he said on the air of the national telethon.
The ambassador noted that there have been appeals from Ukrainians from Israel and Palestine, where about 1,000 Ukrainian citizens are registered with the consulate. Korniychuk added that consuls work in both Palestine and Israel around the clock.
The ambassador suggested that “the Israeli authorities will take control of the situation in the late afternoon.”
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the world to unite to bring to justice the organizers of the terrorist attack on Israel.
“The world must be united and in solidarity so that terror never tries to subjugate or break lives anywhere. Israel’s right to defense is beyond question. All the circumstances of this terrorist attack must be clarified so that the world knows and brings to justice everyone who incited the attack and helped organize it,” Zelensky wrote on his telegram channel.
He expressed confidence that order would be restored and the terrorists would be destroyed.
“Nowhere in the world should terror be given a single chance, because terror is always a crime not just against one country or its specific victims, but against humanity as such and our entire world. Whoever uses terror is committing a crime against the world. Whoever sponsors terror is a crime against the world,” the president emphasized.
Zelenskyy also called on Ukrainian citizens in the danger zone to carefully follow the instructions of the security forces on the ground and closely monitor the information.
“Please take care of yourself! The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and our embassy in Israel are ready to help in any situation. An operational headquarters has been set up to assist Ukrainians in Israel. If you need help, please immediately contact any of our diplomatic or consular missions by any means available to you,” the President said.
