Ukraine will be able to resume peace talks with Russia on a strengthened position at the end of August, said head of the Ukrainian delegation at the talks with Russia, leader of the Servant of the People faction in the Verkhovna Rada David Arakhamia.
“We don’t want to share our plans with the Russians, because they can see it in open sources. But I think we will conduct counteroffensive operations in some places,” he said in a comment to the Voice of America, answering the question of what will happen at the end of August.
To date, the Ukrainian side does not consider the possibility of resuming negotiations. At least, by the time Ukraine does not strengthen its forces, and Russian troops do not return to the positions they were in before February 24, Arakhamia noted.
“The minimum acceptable agreement would be if we kicked them out or they voluntarily retreated to the positions where they were before February 24,” the politician said.
After that, as explained in the negotiating group, it will be possible to talk about the return of all sovereign territories, including Crimea and the territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
“We could consider some kind of political agreement, like the one we proposed in Istanbul. For example, we have not touched on the Crimean issue for several years. We are not doing this militarily, but we are doing it in a diplomatic and political way,” Arakhamia said.
270,000 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory need demining, according to the website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.
“If we talk about quantity, today we understand that it is necessary to clear about 270,000 square kilometers of mines. This includes the occupied territories,” said the head of the department Denis Monastyrsky on Friday during the All-Ukrainian telethon.
According to him, the Ministry of Internal Affairs directs the subdivisions of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine to conduct primary operational demining within a year. “In simple words, the road between settlements should be cleared of mines, the settlement, adjacent territories, as well as areas around settlements should be completely cleared of mines. But complete demining, which includes roads, forest belts, reservoirs, will take years,” Monastyrsky stressed.
As for relaxing on the beaches, the minister warned that swimming in most reservoirs in the Kyiv, Kharkiv, Sumy and Chernihiv regions is dangerous due to the presence of explosive devices. According to him, local authorities independently determine whether it is possible to swim in certain reservoirs. He also stressed that the study of reservoirs requires special professional equipment, which is scarce in Ukraine, and urged Ukrainians not to visit reservoirs yet because of mine danger.
“We turned to our international partners-colleagues from the European Union. They will help us both with teams that will come from abroad and directly with the equipment for such demining,” Monastyrsky said.
President of the European Council Charles Michel has announced that the issue of granting Ukraine the status of a candidate for membership of the European Union will be included in the agenda of the upcoming summit, which will be held in Brussels on June 23-24.
He wrote about this on his Twitter page. “Candidate status will feature on next week’s EUCO agenda. Called President Zelensky to inform him of way forward. We stand united with the people of Ukraine in solidarity and in our common future, ” the President of the European Council wrote.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, commenting on her phone conversation with Zelensky, wrote on her Twitter page: “I was very moved by President Zelensky’s kind words over the phone today, following our recommendation to grant Ukraine the candidate status. The Ukrainians can count on the EU_Commission’s constant support as they move along the path to the European Union,” she assured.
Businesses should talk not only about compensation for the damage caused to them due to the Russian aggression, but also about compensation for all the damage caused, Hennadiy Borysychev, founder of the Konkor law firm, has said.
“Please note that damage is only part of such a concept as harm, in particular, harm caused by Russian aggression. Damage includes not only direct losses, but also additional costs, lost profits, and there is also moral damage. For example, for legal person it is real to prove the existence of moral damage caused, in particular, due to the loss of non-property assets, goodwill and others,” he told Interfax-Ukraine.
The lawyer said that for each of these types of damage there are specific features of recording – the collection of evidence about the existence of the fact of damage and its size. At the same time, it is important to clearly establish all types of damage caused and prove both the very fact of the existence of damage and its size.
“It is important to consider and prove all components of the damage caused in a complex, that is, in interconnection. It is a mistake to break down the recording and assessment of the amount of damage for separate objects of one business that suffered damage, since a business (enterprise) is a property complex, and includes both property, and non-property assets,” he said.
Borysychev drew attention to the fact that when assessing the damage, it is necessary to follow the government resolution No. 326 dated March 20, which sets the procedure for determining the damage and damage caused to Ukraine as a result of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation.
The lawyer said that in the near future it is expected to adopt an appropriate methodology for assessing harm and approving acts for recording it.
In addition, Borysychev pointed out the need for a correct legal qualification of the actions that caused damage, which will affect the prospects for compensation.
“War is not an “event” like a natural disaster or accident, and not a private conflict, as a result of which harm is caused. Harm caused to a business is exactly the type of harm that refers to such grave consequences of war, which in turn entitles a business to receive the status of a victim. That is, the application of such a legal approach allows us to involve the law enforcement agencies of the state in recording the damage. This method of recording the damage when assessing evidence both in Ukraine and in foreign jurisdictions will have certain advantages and allows attracting the state to the side of the victim,” the lawyer said.
Borysychev drew attention to the fact that the problem of compensation for damages caused by Russian aggression is not a common well-established practice for law firms. At the same time, an important point is the lack of a mechanism for enforcing decisions on claims for damages against the Russian Federation.
“This problem is extraordinary and has not yet been solved anywhere in the world, it requires the development of law enforcement practice. Ukrainian courts have positive experience in claims against the Russian Federation, there is positive experience in arbitration, but an important nuance has not yet been taken into account – the mechanism for executing such decisions,” he said.
Borysychev said that earlier the Konkor law firm won the right to the status of a victim due to Russian aggression several years before the start of the second hot stage of the war on February 24.
“Now our solutions and experience in this area have become relevant and unprecedented,” he said.
The lawyer said that among foreign jurisdictions, the most promising for the restoration of the violated rights of war victims are the jurisdictions of the UK, the United States and Canada.
He said that the law firm will focus on the development and implementation of the legal mechanism in Ukrainian courts.
Borysychev said that at present, the current issues are the adoption of a law on compensation for damage to victims of Russian aggression in Ukraine and the creation of a common accessible mechanism for all categories of victims in Ukraine to obtain the status of victims and compensation for damage.
The Cabinet of Ministers has expanded the list of checkpoints through which it is allowed to transport vehicles purchased abroad for the period of martial law, according to a government decree dated June 14, 2022.
According to it, the government allowed the import of imported cars through a number of sea checkpoints, including the Black Sea Fishing Port, the Black Sea Shipyard, the Odessa Commercial Sea Port, the Pivdenny seaport, the Reniysky, Ust-Danubsky, Belgorod-Dnestrovsky seaports, as well as the ferry complex “Orlovka”.
Earlier, the Cabinet of Ministers limited the checkpoints for moving imported cars to three – Ustilug, Grushev and Maly Berezny.
In May 2022, Ukraine exported the maximum volumes of sunflower oil since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation – 186 thousand tons, which is 23% more than the previous month.
In May, there was also a gradual increase in the countries-importers of Ukrainian oil – products were shipped to more than 60 countries of the world, although the EU countries remained its main consumers, the website of the APK-Inform agency reported on Friday.
According to him, Poland became the largest importer of Ukrainian oil, which accounted for 20% (37.2 thousand tons) of supplies of this product from Ukraine.
“Shipping to more distant countries of the world (25% of Ukrainian exports in May) is significantly limited by logistics, an increase in delivery time and, accordingly, its cost. At the same time, Turkey should be singled out among the main importers after the EU countries, where almost 12 thousand tons of sunflower oil,” the agency said in a statement.
The growth in sunflower oil exports indicates the adaptation of market participants to current realities and the gradual establishment of product supply chains through land border crossings and Danube river ports, the agency stated.
In turn, according to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, the country exported 202.65 thousand tons of sunflower oil in May (+56% compared to April 2022), which is 8% higher than the data from APK-Inform.
