Home

IN BRIEF: Recent developments in the Ukraine-Russia conflict

Reading Time: 3 minutes

US President Joe Biden announced an additional $800 million in military assistance to Ukraine on Wednesday, expanding the scope of the systems provided to include heavy artillery ahead of a wider Russian assault expected in eastern Ukraine.

The package, which brings the total military aid tally since Russian forces invaded in February to more than $2.5 billion, includes artillery systems, artillery rounds, armored personnel carriers and unmanned coastal defense boats, Biden said in a statement after a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Biden said he had also approved the transfer of additional helicopters, saying equipment provided to Ukraine “has been critical” as it confronts the invasion.

“We cannot rest now. As I assured President Zelenskyy, the American people will continue to stand with the brave Ukrainian people in their fight for freedom,” Biden said in a written statement.

Lawyers to determine “threshold of genocide” in Ukraine

US State Department spokesperson Ned Price on Wednesday said it was up to international lawyers to consider evidence before making a determination of whether or not genocide happened during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The statement comes after President Joe Biden said for the first time on Tuesday that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine amounts to genocide, a significant escalation of his rhetoric.

Price said the United States supported international lawyers trying to determine whether a legal threshold was met, but did not say whether the United States would launch its own inquiry while it supports ongoing processes.

Presidents of Baltic States, Poland meet Zelenskyy

The Presidents of the Baltic States and Poland have met with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv in what the politicians have called a show of support for the country. Germany’s President, though, cancelled his plan to join them, saying it was apparent ‘he wasn’t wanted’.

Estonia’s President announced on Twitter that he was heading to Ukraine alongside his counterparts from Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland.

The four travelled to Kyiv where they met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to send a strong message of political support and military assistance and back Ukraine’s fight for its sovereignty and freedom.

Poor countries face food, energy, finance crises due to Ukraine war

Poor countries face economic ruin from simultaneous crises of food, energy and finance due to supply disruptions caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday.

Russia is the world’s top exporter of combined oil and gas, and Russia and Ukraine are both major producers of grain, together accounting for around a third of global exports. World commodity prices have hit records, hurting countries that rely on imports.

“The war is supercharging a three-dimensional crisis – food, energy and finance – that is pummeling some of the world’s most vulnerable people, countries and economies,” Guterres told reporters, releasing a report by a crisis task force he created shortly after Russia’s invasion began on February 24.

VIDEO: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy seeks support from the AU:

Author

MOST READ