An agreement on the safe export of Ukrainian grain from Black Sea ports has not been renewed in full, after Russia said it had been extended, the United Nations said Friday, May 26, Reuters reported.
“The agreement allowing safe exports of grain and fertilizers from Ukrainian Black Sea ports has not yet resumed in full, the United Nations said on Friday, after Russia decided last week to extend it,” it said.
The pact, called the Black Sea Grain Initiative, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey last July with Russia and Ukraine to alleviate a global food crisis exacerbated by Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, covers three ports, but since April 29, no ships have been allowed to call at the Yuzhny port, the UN said.
The UN and Turkey are “working closely with other parties to restore full operations … and remove all obstacles that impede operations and limit the scope of the Initiative,” the UN said in a statement.
Ukrainian agrarians last week sowed 585.2 thousand hectares of grain and leguminous crops, compared to 1 million 105.5 thousand hectares last week and 1267.2 thousand hectares a week earlier, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food reported on Friday.
According to it, May 25, the area under spring grain and leguminous crops reached 5.278 million hectares, or about 96.7% of the planned.
Spring sown areas are still lower than last year, when as of May 26 they reached 5.905 million hectares, but the lag has decreased again: 267.1 thousand hectares were sown during the same week in 2022.
The lag is mainly formed due to the most popular crops – corn and spring barley. They were sown by 16.4% and 17.8% less than last year, amounting to 3.266 and 759.6 thousand hectares respectively. As for corn, they have already surpassed the forecast of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy in 3.618 million hectares, while the barley is noticeably lower than the expected 1.041 million hectares.
At the same time, the area under other crops is already higher than a year ago. This concerns spring wheat – 261.9 thousand hectares (38.4%), buckwheat – 83.1 thousand hectares (44.0%), millet – 46.1 thousand hectares (11.6%) and pea – 135.6 thousand hectares (7.7%).
As it was noted by the Ministry of agrarian policy, the leaders in field work with grains and legumes this week were agrarians of the northernmost Chernigiv region – 94.5 thousand hectares, and the most sown spring crops in Poltava region – 626 thousand hectares.
According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, sunflowers covered 4.616 million hectares, which is already 8.2% more than last year’s figure, but still significantly below the expectations of 5.641 million hectares. Most of all this oilseed crops are planted in Kirovograd region – 576 thousand hectares.
Sown areas under sugar beet, on the contrary, exceeded the forecast of 220 thousand hectares and reached 240.9 thousand hectares, a third more than last year on that date, and higher even than in 2021, when they amounted to 226 thousand hectares.
Soybean area expanded to 1.636 million hectares and exceeded last year’s already 42%, and there is little left to the forecast of 1.841 million hectares. Kiev region is the leader with 188.8 thousand hectares.
According to the forecast of the Ministry from the end of March, in 2023 sowing areas of cereals and leguminous crops will amount to 10.24 mln ha, which is 1.4 mln ha less then in 2022, while oilseeds area will grow by 0.92 mln ha – to 8.85 mln ha. In particular, winter wheat crops will be 4166 thousand hectares (-834 thousand hectares against the previous year), spring wheat – 285 thousand hectares (+67 thousand hectares), winter barley – 536 thousand hectares (-255 thousand hectares).
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has submitted a draft law on the application of sectoral special economic and other restrictive measures (sanctions) to the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Verkhovna Rada on May 27, 2023.
The card of the project number 9333 appeared on the website of the Parliament.
“In accordance with Article 93 of the Constitution of Ukraine and part two of Article 5 of the Law of Ukraine “On Sanctions” I am submitting for consideration of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine a draft resolution of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine “On Approval of the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine dated May 27, 2023 “On the application of sectoral special economic and other restrictive measures (sanctions) to the Islamic Republic of Iran”, – said in the text of the document.
According to the addendum to the draft, it is proposed to apply sanctions against Iran for 50 years. The restrictive measures include a complete ban on trade with Iran, stopping the transit of resources, flights and shipments by Iran through Ukraine as well as preventing Iranian residents from taking capital out of Ukraine.
In addition, it is proposed to prohibit the transfer of technology and intellectual property rights to residents of Iran and to prohibit investments in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will visit the Federal Republic of Nigeria on May 28-29 for the first time since 1991, the Foreign Ministry’s press service said.
“This will be the first visit of the Ukrainian Foreign Minister to Nigeria since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1992,” the statement said.
It is noted that the Ukrainian foreign minister will take part in the inauguration of the newly elected President of Nigeria Bola Tinubu. He will also hold a series of bilateral meetings with the heads of delegations of African countries.
“The key topics of the Minister’s meetings will be the intensification of political dialogue between Ukraine and African countries, the promotion of the Formula of peace President Vladimir Zelensky, food security, increase in trade and deepening cooperation in international organizations,” – stressed in the department.
People’s deputies have submitted to the Verkhovna Rada a draft resolution on the use in Ukraine of the historical name of the country Georgia – Sakartvelo.
The card of the document under the number 9329 appeared on the website of the parliament.
The authors of the project are a group of people’s deputies, including the head of the parliamentary committee on the integration of Ukraine into the European Union Ivanna Klimpush-Tsintsadze, members of the faction “European Solidarity” Alexei Goncharenko, Irina Gerashchenko, Irina Friz, Vladimir Aryev, Sofia Fedina, Victoria Syumar and others.
“To introduce the use in Ukraine at the official level, official correspondence and communication, as well as in the media of the official and historical name Sakartvelo instead of Georgia. In accordance, the Georgian people (Georgians) shall be called – Kartvels,” – is stated in the text of the draft resolution.
The authors of the bill in an explanatory note notes that the relations between Ukraine and Georgia are deep and multifaceted, but one of the steps of additional rapprochement on the part of Ukraine could be the official use of the historical name of Georgia – Sakartvelo. It is also stressed that for almost fifteen years, official Tbilisi has been persuading its international partners to abandon the name “Georgia,” which is considered russified, and the name itself is Russian.
“Therefore, Georgians are asking to use the historical name of their country – Sakartvelo,” emphasize the authors of the project.
It is also noted that the name “Georgia” is used in the world by about 20 countries, including Ukraine. Most of these countries are post-Soviet countries or those that experienced significant Soviet influence.
“Ukraine, which is a separate subject of international law and historically builds friendly relations with Georgia and which, especially at the present time of Russian aggression, gets rid of everything russified and manifestations of colonial policy, should start using the historical name of the country Georgia – Sakartvelo, and the name of the Georgian people (Georgians) – kartveli”, – think MPs.
For the second week in a row, the flow of those entering Ukraine is roughly equal to the flow of those leaving the country, according to both the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine and the Polish Border Guard Service.
According to the data of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine in Facebook, the flow to the exit from Ukraine increased from 252 thousand to 263 thousand people, while the flow to the entrance – from 256 thousand to 262 thousand people.
The number of transport means, crossing the western border of Ukraine, according to the department, in the 21st week of the year increased from 126 thousand to 128 thousand, and the number of vehicles with humanitarian cargoes, from 421 to 503.
Polish Border Guard Service for the last seven days recorded a small net outflow from Ukraine – 2.5 thousand people, whereas a week ago there was the same outflow.
According to the Polish Ministry, the number of people, entering from Ukraine to Poland increased from 164.8 thousand people to 167.2 thousand, whereas the flow back from Poland to Ukraine decreased from 167.3 thousand to 164.9 thousand people.
On the whole, since the beginning of the war, by May 26, 2023, 12,15 million people had arrived from Ukraine to Poland, while 10,35 million people went in the opposite direction.
As it was reported, since May 10, 2022, the outflow of refugees from Ukraine was replaced by an inflow, which lasted until September 23 and amounted to 409 thousand people.
However, from late September, probably under the influence of news about mobilization in Russia and “pseudo-referendums” in the occupied territories, and then massive shelling of the energy infrastructure, a net outflow was recorded. It temporarily stopped in the second half of December – early January for the period of holidays, but from the second week of January it resumed again and cumulatively since late September by the anniversary of the full-scale war reached 223 thousand people.
From that moment up to the present moment 105 thousand more people entered Ukraine than left.
As Deputy Minister of Economy Sergei Sobolev noted in early March, the return of every 100,000 Ukrainians home gives a 0.5% increase in GDP.
According to the UNHCR, the number of Ukrainians registered in Europe with temporary protection status or similar reached 5.14 million as of May 16, increasing by about 15,000 over the week.
