Issues related to Ukraine and Russia’s actions continue to be in the focus of the United States administration, regardless of where its employees are, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said.
“That remains front and center in what we’re doing and indeed what I continue to do even as we’re heading to Australia,” Blinken told reporters accompanying him to Canberra aboard the plane.
“I’ve been on the phone during a chunk of this trip talking to various counterparts with some focus on Russia-Ukraine. I spent some time talking to National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan as well,” he said.
“And this is part of, as we’ve tabulated, with foreign counterparts something like 200-plus engagements just in recent weeks – phone calls, video conferences, in-person meetings, where we have been working to coordinate all of our partners in standing up to this Russian aggression directed toward Ukraine,” Blinken said.
“We have been engaged in a two-track strategy where we have, on the one hand, been pursuing diplomacy, but at the same time building up strong deterrence to dissuade Russia from taking aggressive action,” the US Secretary of State said.
Half of Ukrainian adults have been vaccinated against coronavirus (COVID-19) disease, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said.
“Some 50% of the adult population has already been vaccinated against COVID-19. Every second Ukrainian has received at least one dose of the vaccine. We must increase this figure,” he said at a government meeting on Wednesday.
Germany has prepared a loan for Ukraine to develop projects in the hydrogen energy and plans to provide further financial assistance in this sector, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has said.
“We, like the EU, invest in many projects in Ukraine. Therefore, the last time I made it clear that with regard to hydrogen, we will implement projects together with German business. Therefore, we have prepared a financial loan and are planning further financial assistance in this sector, because we, as a partner, are on the side of Ukraine,” Baerbock said at a press conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Kyiv on Monday.
In turn, Kuleba said that Ukraine and Germany agreed on concrete further steps in this area.
“We all know the subject of Nord Stream 2, but our countries do not live by it alone. We have a serious future that we want to create around renewable energy sources. In this regard, we paid special attention to projects in hydrogen energy, which should ideally connect our economies and be mutually beneficial for our states. We agreed on concrete further steps in this area,” the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.
Ukraine and Poland are jointly developing a plan for the implementation of a high-speed rail link between Kyiv and Warsaw and are preparing for its presentation at the level of the European Union.
The Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine reported on its Facebook page these are the results of the visit of head of the department Oleksandr Kubrakov, his deputy Mustafa Nayyem and head of Ukrzaliznytsia Oleksandr Kamyshin to Poland.
According to the agency, the construction of the Kyiv-Warsaw eurotrack will reduce the travel time from one capital to another by rail by four hours.
In addition, during the negotiations, the reconstruction of the section Malhowice-Nyzhankovychi on the Ukrainian-Polish border, which has not been operated since 1995, was discussed. Currently, the search for sources of financing for this project is underway.
As reported, JSC Ukrzaliznytsia from February 10, 2022 removes all restrictions on rail transit to Poland.
Stocks of coal in the warehouses of thermal power plants of generating companies in Ukraine grew by 5.8% (by 38,300 tonnes) from January 31 to February 7, 2022, to 695,500 tonnes, according to data from the Ministry of Energy.
According to the calculations of Interfax-Ukraine, since the beginning of the year, stocks have grew by 1.6 times (as of December 31, 2021 it were 435,700 tonnes), they are also 1.8 times more than a year earlier (as of February 8 2021 it were 384,400 tonnes).
As reported, the supply of coal to the warehouses of Ukraine’s thermal power plants in January 2022 rose by 8% (by 148,200 tonnes) compared to December 2021, to 1.991 million tonnes, including 643,400 tonnes of imported coal (1.6 times more), 1.347 million tonnes of Ukrainian-made coal (6.5% less).
