The UK authorities are considering the possibility of confiscating frozen Russian assets in the kingdom for transfer to Ukraine, reports The Guardian.
According to the newspaper, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said that the UK intends to follow the example of Canada and seize the assets of Russians in the United Kingdom in order to transfer them to Ukraine.
“I support this concept. We are following it very closely. Canadians have actually just passed a law that we are working on with the Home Office and the Treasury, but I certainly agree with this idea. We just need to work out all the details of this issue “, – quotes Truss edition.
She noted that the British Parliament “most likely” will need to pass a new law that allows this to happen. However, the minister added, perhaps it will be possible to do without it.
The newspaper notes that the seized funds can be transferred either to private individuals in the form of damages, or to the Ukrainian authorities.
During the UK-Ukrainian infrastructure summit in London, Ukraine and the UK, as well as representatives of UK business, signed a Memorandum on Ukraine’s infrastructure restoration.
The Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine said in a report on its website on Saturday that this memorandum provides an opportunity for UK business to fully participate in the restoration of Ukraine’s infrastructure destroyed by Russia.
In partnership with UK business, a working group has been created that will work on the restoration of the critical infrastructure of Kyiv city and the region.
“The Ministry of Infrastructure is already developing a public register of damaged infrastructure and, together with colleagues in the government and international partners, is developing solutions for digital recovery management,” Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov was quoted as saying.
According to him, now about 30% of the infrastructure in Ukraine has been destroyed.
At the same time, in the course of work on the restoration of transport communication, 41 temporary crossings have already been installed, almost 1,000 km of roads have been cleared.
The Ministry of Infrastructure said that the government of the UK, in particular, Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps, from the start of a full-scale invasion of Russia, provided full support in repelling aggression, restoring destroyed infrastructure and establishing supply chains in the condition of the war.
The UK and Polish governments were the main suppliers of medical assistance to Ukraine in the past week, the press service of the Health Ministry of Ukraine has said.
The ministry said that the UK government and the Strategic Reserves Agency of Poland were the major suppliers.
The Health Ministry also noted assistance of the Embassy of Bulgaria in Ukraine, the Direct Relief international humanitarian aid organization, the Kyiv School of Economics Charitable Foundation, the Center of Volunteering and Protection charitable organization, One Ukraine, and Americares global non-profit organization.
The ministry reported that it received six ambulance vehicles, 1,000 packs of hemostatic gauze, 125 patient monitors, 7.5 tonnes of antibacterial agents, 153.5 tonnes of various medicines, 26.5 tonnes of drugs for Covid-19, 60 tonnes of personal protective equipment, and 5 tonnes of syringes from volunteers and partner countries over last week.
The UK will transfer M270 launchers to Ukraine, which can hit targets at a distance of up to 80 km with high-precision missiles, UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace has said.
“As Russia’s tactics change, so must our support to Ukraine. These highly capable multiple-launch rocket systems will enable our Ukrainian friends to better protect themselves against the brutal use of long-range artillery, which Putin’s forces have used indiscriminately to flatten cities,” Wallace said, the government of the UK said on its website on Monday.
Along with the weapons system, the UK will also supply M31A1 ammunition in large quantities.
The Ukrainian military will be trained to use launchers in the UK to maximize the effectiveness of the systems.
“We cannot stand by while Russian long-range artillery flattens cities and kills innocent civilians. The UK will gift the Ukrainian Armed Forces multiple-launch rocket systems so they can effectively repel the continuing Russian onslaught,” PM of the UK Boris Johnson said on Twitter.
The UK’s decision was closely coordinated with the U.S. decision to transfer to Ukraine a variant of the MLRS Highly Mobile Artillery Missile System (HIMARS).
The UK is working with international partners to find ways to resume grain exports from Ukraine, a Downing Street spokesperson said on Saturday.
According to The Guardian, according to her, the UK was involved in “intensive work … with international partners to find ways to resume the export of grain from Ukraine to avert a global food crisis.”
Prime Minister of the UK Boris Johnson had a telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and told him that London would work with G7 partners to ” push for urgent progress” on the issue.
During the conversation, they also agreed on the next steps to ensure “safe shipping lanes.”
Ukraine expects zero rates for the export of goods to the UK to be set from June, First Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said after a meeting with British Secretary of State for International Trade Anne-Marie Trevelyan.
“We expect that already in early June, zero customs rates for the export of Ukrainian goods to the UK will begin to operate. This will allow Ukrainian exporters to increase the export of products,” the ministry’s press service quoted Svyrydenko as saying in a Telegram message on Friday.
“First of all, we are talking about such goods as flour, grain, dairy products, poultry meat and semi-finished products, honey, corn, sugar. As a result, we will attract additional volumes of foreign exchange earnings to the country, which will have a positive impact on macro-financial stability in the state,” the first deputy prime minister said.
During the meeting, the parties also discussed the situation with trade between the countries. In 2021, it has grown by 40%.
“In 2022, we can expect significant progress even despite the war,” the Ministry of Economy noted.
The Minister of Economy of Ukraine and the British Secretary of State for International Trade also discussed the possibility of British investments in Ukraine. Last year they reached $3 billion.
EXPORTS, GOODS, UK, ZERO RATES
