Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has accepted an invitation from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to visit the country on the condition that Kyiv makes significant progress in ceasefire talks with Russia, Israel’s Ynet news reported
According to the publication, Bennett has already asked the country’s security service to begin preparations for his possible visit to Kyiv.
“In order to advance the negotiations, it is clear that in-person meetings are necessary. And they may happen down the road if negotiations reach a tipping point,” a source involved in the talks with the Ukrainians told Ynet.
“However, some security officials have expressed their misgivings about the risks entailed in the prime minister going into an active war zone, especially after a Russian bombing of the city killed at least eight people on Monday,” the report says.
“According to sources familiar with the matter, Zelensky and Ukrainian government officials have been pursuing a Bennett visit to Kyiv for the past ten days as they believe the visit would help expedite ceasefire talks with Moscow,” according to the edition.
Earlier this month, the Israeli prime minister visited Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin.
Losses among civilians from February 24, 2022, when Russia started the war against Ukraine, to 24:00 on March 20, 2022 amounted to 2,421 civilians (2,361 in the report a day earlier), including 925 dead (902), reports the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on Monday.
“UNHCHR believes that the real numbers are much higher, especially in government-controlled territory, and especially in recent days, as information from some places where there has been intense fighting has been delayed, and many reports are still awaiting confirmation,” it said.
“The majority of civilian deaths or injuries were caused by the use of explosive devices with a wide area of effect, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems, as well as rocket and air strikes,” the report says.
According to confirmed UN data, 183 men, 137 women, 25 boys and 11 girls died, while the sex of 39 children and 530 adults has not yet been determined.
Among the 1,496 wounded, there are 22 girls and 17 boys, as well as 60 children, whose gender has not yet been determined.
High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell has announced an additional EUR500 million for Ukraine, he said this at a press conference following a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday.
He said he was pleased to announce that they had reached a political agreement on an additional EUR500 million within the European peacebuilding opportunities. He added they would continue to support Ukraine economically, financially, with humanitarian aid, and support the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
According to Borrell, all member states remain extremely united in supporting Ukraine diplomatically in the international arena, will continue to isolate Russia, call for accountability for war crimes, for violations of international and humanitarian law.
He also said that the EU regards what is happening in Ukraine as large-scale war crimes committed by the Russian armed forces against the Ukrainian people. And this will not remain unpunished. Therefore, they welcome the commission established by the UN Human Rights Council. They welcome the investigation (into these crimes) by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, the high representative said.
In this regard, he stated that the ministers call on Russia to comply with the decision of the International Court of Justice, according to which it must stop the invasion of Ukraine. Borrell also assured that the EU is ready for further restrictive measures, in coordination with their partners, in order to continue to put pressure on Russia.
Australia will provide Ukraine, at the request of the Ukrainian government, with at least 70,000 tonnes of thermal coal to strengthen energy security, according to the Facebook page of the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine.
“Australia is recognized internationally as a leading and reliable supplier of energy resources. We thank our Australian partners for helping Ukraine at this difficult time, when our state is resisting an illegal and brutal military invasion by Russia,” Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Haluschenko said.
As noted in the message, the Australian government has worked with enterprises of the country’s coal industry to accumulate coal volumes, which will be the country’s contribution to providing Ukrainian consumers with reliable electricity. The cost of coal and its delivery will be covered by the Australian government.
Australia’s Whitehaven Coal will arrange the appropriate shipment. Now, along the government line, together with the Ukrainian side, the issue of prompt delivery is being worked out, the Ministry of Energy said.
Losses among civilians from February 24, 2022, when Russia started the war against Ukraine, to 00:00 on March 18, 2022 amounted to 2,246 civilians (in the report a day earlier some 2,149), including 847 killed (816), the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Saturday.
“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.” it said in the document.
According to the office, this applies, for example, to Mariupol and Volnovakha (Donetsk region), Izium (Kharkiv region), Severodonetsk and Rubizhne (Luhansk region), Trostianets (Sumy region), where there are reports of numerous civilian casualties. They are subject to further verification 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 multiple-launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes,” the office said.
According to confirmed UN data, some 155 men, some 119 women, some 21 boys and seven girls killed, while the gender of 36 children and 509 adults is yet unknown.
Among the 1,399 wounded, some 18 girls and nine boys, as well as 51 children, whose gender is yet unknown.
Compared to the previous day, five children were killed and four others were wounded, according to the UN.
OHCHR said that in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as of midnight on March 19, there were 187 (172) killed and 547 (503) wounded in government-controlled territory, and 53 (50) killed and 181 (178) wounded in territory controlled by self-proclaimed “republics.”
In other regions of Ukraine under government control (in Kyiv, as well as in Zhytomyr, Zaporizhia, Kyiv, Sumy, Odesa, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Cherkasy and Chernihiv regions), the UN recorded 607 (594) killed and 671 (652) wounded.
The Meest international postal and logistics group with Ukrainian roots, through its subsidiary Meest China, has resumed the purchase and delivery of goods from China to Ukraine.
According to the company’s announcement on Wednesday, delivery to Ukraine of both postal items and commercial cargo is available.
Earlier, Meest resumed international delivery of parcels to the countries of the European Union: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Germany, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary.
At the same time, the company said on its website that due to the war on the territory of Ukraine [which Russia unleashed with its invasion on February 24] and the introduction of martial law in the country, the delivery time for international shipments to European countries may be extended and will depend on further development situations.
