Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, speaking before the start of talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul, expressed hope that they would facilitate a personal meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents.
“The progress made in these talks will allow the leaders of Russia and Ukraine to negotiate in person,” Erdogan was quoted as saying by Daily Sabah.
He noted that Turkey is also ready to host such talks between the two leaders on its territory.
Erdogan indicated that Turkey is “deeply concerned” about the situation around Ukraine and calls for a ceasefire.
“The negotiation process between Russia and Ukraine has raised hopes for peace. Ensuring a ceasefire as soon as possible would be beneficial to all parties,” the Turkish president said.
“We hope that the meetings [in Istanbul] will benefit both sides and the region,” he said.
“I think it is possible to come to an agreement that will suit both sides and the world community,” he stressed. Erdogan noted that a “permanent, fair, practical solution is required.”
Erdogan also stressed that Turkey is ready to perform mediation functions for as long as necessary. “We are ready to help the peace process as much as you need,” he said, addressing the Russian and Ukrainian delegations.
Negotiations between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations began in Istanbul on Tuesday morning, they are taking place in the Dolmabahce Palace.
As the President’s Office told Interfax-Ukraine, the Ukrainian delegation included leader of the Servant of the People faction in the parliament David Arakhamia, Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov, MPs Andriy Kostin and Rustem Umerov, adviser to the head of the President’s Office Mykhailo Podoliak, deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mykola Tochytsky, and Deputy Head of the President’s Office Kyrylo Tymoshenko.
The recovery of international tourism after the coronavirus pandemic may slow down due to the conflict in Ukraine, experts from the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) say.
“The main tourist supplying countries, the US and Asian countries, which have now begun to open for departure, are sensitive to possible risks. In addition, the closure of Ukrainian and Russian airspace, as well as the ban on flights for Russian carriers, affects travel within Europe. The need to overfly closed areas for long-haul flights leads to an increase in flight time and an increase in flight costs.
According to the UNWTO, Russia and Ukraine accounted for 3% of global travel spending in 2020.
If the conflict drags on, global tourism could lose at least $14 billion in revenue.
“Both markets are significant suppliers of tourists for neighboring countries, European beach destinations. The Russian market has also become very important during the pandemic for tourist destinations such as the Maldives, Seychelles or Sri Lanka,” the organization emphasizes.
At the same time, UNWTO experts note that it is too early to assess all the consequences of the war. Searches and bookings for flights through various channels fell just after February 24, but in early March, the figures began to recover.
“The situation of uncertainty worsens economic conditions, undermines consumer confidence, increases investment uncertainty. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), global economic growth this year could be 1% lower than forecast, and inflation could jump by 2 .5%. The rising price of oil also increases the cost of transportation services and hotel accommodation, which reduces the purchasing power of potential tourists,” the UNWTO emphasizes.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has documented 2,858 civilian casualties (2,788 a day before) in the country, including 1,104 (1,081) killed (from February 24 when the Russia invaded Ukraine to 24:00 midnight on March 25, 2022 (local time).
“OHCHR believes that the actual figures are considerably higher, especially in Government-controlled territory and especially in recent days, as the receipt of information from some locations where intense hostilities have been going on has been delayed and many reports are still pending corroboration,” the UN said in the document.
According to him, this applies, for example, to Izium (Kharkiv region), and Mariupol and Volnovakha (Donetsk region), Severodonetsk and Rubizhne (Luhansk region), Trostianets (Sumy region), where there are allegations of hundreds of civilian casualties. These figures are being further corroborated and are not included in the above statistics.
“Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multi-launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes,” the UN said in the report.
According to confirmed UN data, some 221 men, some 221 women, 30 boys and 15 girls killed, while the sex of 51 children and 620 adults has not yet been known.
Among the 1,754 injured, some 30 girls and 24 boys, as well as 70 children, whose sex is yet unknown.
Compared to the previous day, three children were killed, and four more children were wounded, according to the UN.
OHCHR said that in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as of midnight March 26, there were 295 (285) dead and 681 (672) injured in government-controlled territory, and 59 (59) dead and 227 (224) injured in territory controlled by self-proclaimed “republics.”
In other regions of Ukraine under government control (Kyiv, as well as in Zhytomyr, Zaporizhia, Kyiv, Sumy, Odesa, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Cherkasy and Chernihiv regions), the UN recorded 750 (737) killed and 846 (811) wounded.
OHCHR notes the report of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine, according to which as of 8 a.m. (local time) 26 March, 136 (135) children had been killed and 199 (184) injured.
OHCHR also notes the report of the Head of the Investigative Department of the National Police of Kharkiv region, according to which as of 6 p.m. (local time) 25 March, 323 (306) civilians had been killed in the region, including 15 (15) children.
An increase in figures in this update compared with the previous update (as of 24:00 midnight on 24 March 2022 local time) should not be attributed to civilian casualties that occurred on 25 March only, as during the day OHCHR also corroborated casualties that occurred on previous days.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved a loan from the French Development Agency for a total amount of up to EUR 300 million in 2022.
“State external borrowing in 2022 is carried out by raising a loan from the French Development Agency for a total amount that does not exceed EUR 300 million and is provided in accordance with a loan agreement between Ukraine represented by the Finance Minister as a borrower and the French Development Agency as a creditor, within provided for by the law on the 2022 national budget of Ukraine,” the government said in resolution No. 358 dated March 24.
According to the terms, the loan amount bears interest at a fixed annual interest rate of 1.04%, which is paid every six months.
The final repayment of the loan is carried out after 15 years from the date of conclusion of the loan agreement (taking into account the grace period for deferring loan repayment for a period of five years from the date of conclusion of the loan agreement).
Ukraine will carry out a sowing campaign wherever there are no active hostilities, as of March 25, some 150,000 hectares of agricultural land have been sown in the country, the website of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food reported on Friday.
These indicators are 1.5 times higher than last year – as of March 25, 2021, some 106,000 hectares of agricultural land were sown in Ukraine as part of the spring sowing campaign.
“We already see that in Kherson, Odesa, Mykolaiv, in spite of everything, the sowing campaign has begun under Ukrainian flags,”, First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy Taras Vysotsky said.
It is clarified that due to the military aggression of the Russian Federation in Ukraine this season, a decrease in the area under high-margin crops (sunflower and corn) is expected while increasing the area under crops that are easier to produce, but important from the point of view of food security – peas, barley and oats.
“These crops used to be niche, but they are simpler in terms of technology, and, nevertheless, important for people’s nutrition. Therefore, there will be such a shift from export-oriented crops to food crops for domestic consumption,” Vysotsky specified.
According to the ministry, Russian aggression will lead to a reduction in the area under crops in Ukraine by a third, which threatens the food security of 100 million residents of countries importing Ukrainian agricultural products, mainly from North Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
Turkey continues to maintain contacts with both Ukraine and Russia, and the primary task of its diplomacy is to achieve a settlement of the situation, the Anadolu agency quoted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as saying.
“We maintain diplomatic contacts with both sides, discuss all proposals and support all initiatives aimed at establishing peace,” he said at a press conference following the NATO summit in Brussels.
Erdogan noted that Turkey maintains special relations with both countries.
“For this reason, the first task of Turkish diplomacy is to stop hostilities. Peace in Ukraine must be ensured according to a formula that will suit the two countries and the world community. It must be a stable and strong peace,” the Turkish President added.
