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 supply of weapons to Ukraine from the United States under the lend-lease procedure has not yet begun and may start in a few months, says Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) Oleksiy Danilov.
“Lend-lease hasn’t started yet. But the adoption of the lend-lease law itself is a very positive decision for us. And lend-lease will be, the question is when. Here we come back to the fact that everyone’s clocks work differently in the war. For some, a day is like a day, but for us it’s completely different dimensions,” Danilov said in an interview with the League published on Saturday morning.
To a clarifying question when lend-lease arms deliveries are expected, he replied: “it could be July-August, maybe September.”
At the same time, Danilov said that there were “almost no Soviet-made ammunition of 122 and 155 mm caliber left.”
When asked how he assesses the results of Rammstein-3, the NSDC secretary replied: “We need to ask ourselves: who owes us something? To do this, we need to have a slightly different relationship with those countries that commit themselves. If our country were a member of NATO, it would be a completely different conversation.”
“Today we have to thank the countries that are helping us. There are a lot of them. We don’t know about all of them. A lot of countries ask not to voice the military weapons that they transfer to us. Time will pass and there will be our victory – we will thank everyone,” he said.
“No one will defend our country except us. Will they help us with weapons? They will. Will this weapon be enough? There are never enough weapons. But in this war, each country has its own tasks and visions for itself,” Danilov stressed.
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.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has abolished the visa-free travel with Russia from July 1, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.
“We are finally breaking ties with Russia. To counter the unprecedented threats to national security, sovereignty and territorial integrity of our state, the government, in pursuance of the order of the President of Ukraine, has just decided to terminate the visa-free agreement with the Russian Federation,” Shmyhal said on the Telegram channel on Friday.
According to him, from July 1, 2022, Russians will not be able to enter Ukraine without obtaining a visa.
Ukraine is introducing a visa regime for Russian citizens, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky told the Telegram channel on Friday.
“As part of countering unprecedented threats to national security, sovereignty and territorial integrity of our state, I proposed to the Cabinet of Ministers to work out the issue of revising the regime of entry of Russian citizens into the territory of Ukraine,” he wrote.
“And today the Cabinet of Ministers must adopt this important resolution ‘On the termination of the Agreement between the Government of Ukraine and the Government of the Russian Federation on visa-free travel of citizens of Ukraine and the Russian Federation and the application of certain international treaties of Ukraine with the Russian Federation,’” the president also wrote.
According to him, “according to the planned decision of the Cabinet of Ministers, from July 1, 2022, Ukraine will introduce a visa regime for entry for citizens of the Russian Federation.”
The European Commission will recommend to the European Council that Ukraine and Moldova be granted EU candidate status with further “homework” to be done.
Interfax-Ukraine was informed about this on Thursday in Brussels by a source close to the negotiation process and acquainted with the draft document. “To recommend granting candidate status to Ukraine on the understanding that the next steps will be taken (grant candidate status under the understanding that follows steps are taking),” the agency’s interlocutor quoted the draft document as saying.
Next, he said, is a list of “homework” that Ukraine will have to complete before official negotiations begin. Among them – ensuring the rule of law, the fight against corruption, oligarchs, money laundering. According to the source, this work should be done by Ukraine in any case, since for full membership in the EU it must meet the criteria of Article 49 of the Treaty. “Such a wording will allow countries that are still hesitating to be “taken on board,” the source explained the position of the European Commission. In addition, he also believes that Kyiv will need a significant amount of time to meet the necessary criteria.
With regard to Moldova, the list of “homework” is even longer than for Ukraine. With regard to Georgia, the EC recommends that candidate status be granted only after doing “homework”.
These recommendations have yet to be approved by the EU leaders at the summit, which will be held June 23-24 in Brussels.
The official announcement of the conclusions is scheduled for this Friday, June 17th.
CANDIDATE, EU MEMBERSHIP, EUROPEAN COMMISSION, EUROPEAN COUNCIL, MOLDOVA, STATUS, UKRAINE
