Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that both Israel and Palestine have been invited by the Ukrainian side to the Peace Summit to be held on June 15-16 in Switzerland.
“We have no double standards. That is why, despite – whether someone likes it or not, we invited both Palestine and Israel to the Peace Summit. And representatives of the Global South. We have invited all countries to our Summit. We are ready to hear all thoughts, ready to talk to them all,” Zelensky said while speaking to the media on the margins of the Dialogue – Shangri-La conference in Singapore on Sunday.
Among the uninvited countries, the president noted, is only Russia.
“And not just because they are aggressors. Although that is point number 1. Point number 2 is that we had summits with Russia as, for example, within the Normandy format, after which they did not fulfill the agreements and continued to kill us and block processes, including the ceasefire,” he said.
Earlier, as part of his speech at the Dialogue – Shangri La conference in Singapore, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for an objective assessment of Ukraine’s position on the situation in the Gaza Strip, stressing that Ukraine is a just country that respects international law and the UN charter and recognizes two states – both Israel and Palestine.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has set from June 1, 2024 the electricity tariff for the population at the rate of 4.32 UAH/kWh with VAT, which is 64% higher than the current tariff of 2.64 UAH/kWh with VAT.
This was announced by the first deputy head of the energy Committee of the Verkhovna Rada Oleksiy Kucherenko.
“4.32 is a single price. For electric heating – up to 2000 kWh at the old price in the heating period, in the summer as for everyone,” he wrote in his Facebook on Friday.
The maritime corridor created by the Navy has ensured the export of 50 million tons of cargo since August 2023, with 1,737 vessels handled at the ports, the Ministry of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure (MCDI) said.
“50 million tons of cargo were exported by the Ukrainian Sea Corridor in 9 months. Despite constant attacks by the Russians, Ukrainian port workers managed to handle 1,737 vessels,” the Ministry said in a Facebook post on Saturday.
Thanks to the combined efforts of the government, the Administration of Sea Ports of Ukraine, international partners and all employees of the port industry, it was possible to establish a stable export of Ukrainian agricultural products by sea, the report said.
The Facebook of the Administration of Sea Ports (AMPU) reports that the Black Sea ports have reached a record volume of cargo processing.
“Starting with the first Joseph Shulte vessel that left the Ukrainian corridor on August 16, 2023, Ukrainian Black Sea ports have processed this record volume of cargo despite constant enemy attacks on our critical infrastructure. This is 1,737 vessels handled!”, – AMPU said in a statement.
Last Thursday, the fact that exports through the sea corridor reached 50 million tons was reported by Yuriy Vaskov, former Deputy Minister of Development of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure (Ministry of Restoration).
The head of the Administration of Sea Ports of Ukraine (AMPU), Yuriy Litvin, reported that the results of the Ukrainian “grain corridor” almost one and a half times exceeded the indicators of the Black Sea Grain Initiative. According to him, the indicator of transportation of only grain cargoes for eight months is already 10% higher than the results of the “grain initiative” for the year.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Singapore to attend the Shangri-La Dialogue conference, which is a key platform for security issues in the Asia-Pacific region and to hold a number of meetings, in particular with U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
“Global security is impossible when the world’s largest country ignores recognized borders, international law and the UN Charter, blackmails with hunger, darkness and nuclear weapons,” the president wrote in his Telegram channel.
According to Zelensky, restoring a just peace in Ukraine, ensuring global food and nuclear security is the task of the Global Peace Summit in Switzerland. “That is why it will be important for us to hear the voice of the Asia-Pacific region there,” he said.
According to the head of state, in Singapore he will hold meetings with the president of this state Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, President of Timor-Leste Jose Ramos-Horta, Singaporean investors, as well as U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
As follows from the agenda of the conference, which this year is being held from May 31 to June 2, the Ukrainian president is scheduled to speak on Sunday, June 2.
Among others, the conference will be attended by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Chinese counterpart Dong Jun, French Deputy Chief of Defense Staff Pierre Vandieu, Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur. Zelensky will speak as part of a plenary session on solutions for Global Peace and Regional Stability.
According to media reports, Russia will not participate in the current conference.
The Asian Security Summit “Shangri-La Dialogue” is an annual intergovernmental security forum held by the independent think tank “International Institute for Strategic Studies” (IISS), which is attended by defense ministers, permanent heads of ministries and other military leaders of 28 APR states. The forum takes its name from the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore, where it has been held since 2002.
Spain will provide Ukraine with €1 billion in military aid in 2024 and another €5 billion within 3 years
As part of a bilateral security agreement, Spain will provide Ukraine with €1 billion in military aid in 2024 and €5 billion over three years, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.
“…Under the agreement, Spain will provide Ukraine with €1 billion in military aid already this year and €5 billion over three years. The countries have also agreed to provide assistance in economic recovery, support Ukrainian reforms on the way to membership in the EU and NATO and the Formula for Peace, as well as strengthening sanctions against Russia,” the ministry said in a statement published in its Telegram channel on Monday.
As reported, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez signed in Madrid a bilateral agreement on cooperation in the field of security.
Ukraine is negotiating to maximise possible imports of electricity from European Union countries to compensate for the generation capacity destroyed by the Russian attacks, Ukrainian energy minister said on Friday.
Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukraine’s energy sector have intensified since March, resulting in significant damage and blackouts in many regions.
The attacks have caused more than $1 billion of damage to the sector, leading to the loss of 8,000 MWh of generating capacity from the energy system, the government says.
Currently, Ukraine can import from the EU states no more than 1,700 Mwh of electricity simultaneously.
“We’re negotiating. Our task is to maximise this figure,” Energy Minister German Galushchenko told parliament.
“Technically, we can receive (import) more than 2,000 Mwh, even 2,400 Mwh. I’m sure a decision will be made,” he added.
Volodymyr Kudrytskiy, the head of Ukraine’s national power grid operator Ukrenergo, told Ukraine’s Telegraf that 1,700 Mwh is “the ceiling for now”.
“Everything will depend on how quickly our European colleagues – energy system operators of neighbouring countries – will be able to implement projects to expand the capacity of their grids,” Kudrytskiy said.
He said that European grid companies need time and money to reinforce some of their substations, install additional transformers or build new transmission lines.
“We think 3,500 to 4,000 Mwh of interstate interconnector capacity is something we can have in the horizon of five years,” Kudrytskiy noted.
IMPORTS
Energy minister Galushchenko did not say exactly how much imports are being discussed now, but Maxim Timchenko, the head of Ukraine’s largest private energy company, DTEK, said earlier this month that an increase to 2,200 Mwh could significantly improve the situation.
DTEK has lost about 90% of its power generation capacity due to Russian missile attacks in recent months.
DTEK data showed that Ukraine consumed around 13,000 Mwh before the attacks as of March 17 but after a series of Russian attacks on the energy system, consumption fell to 9,100 Mwh.
Due to power shortages, Ukrainian power grid operator Ukrenergo has been forced to introduce regular shutdowns of industrial consumers and households and maintain high import rates.
Problems with power generation can have a “potentially negative impact” on industry, especially the largest electricity consumers, the economy ministry said this week.
