Page 137 - Latest Updates on Ukraine peace talks

We wanted to get cheap Russian crude oil just like India, says Imran Khan

Former Pakistan PM and PTI chief Imran Khan once again lauded India's foreign policy and said that Islamabad "wanted to get cheap Russian crude oil just like India"

Ukraine's first deputy foreign minister to arrive in India for 4-day visit

Ukraine's First Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzhaparova will begin a four-day visit to India on Sunday, the first official visit from the East European country since the Russian invasion began last year. Dzhaparova will hold talks with Sanjay Verma, Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). It is expected that the Ukrainian deputy foreign minister may extend an invitation for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Ukraine. The MEA announced Dzhaparova's visit to India in a statement on Saturday. The First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Emine Dzhaparova will be on an official visit to India from April 9 to 12," it said. It said Dzhaparova will hold talks with Verma, during which both sides are expected to discuss bilateral relations, exchange views on the current situation in Ukraine and global issues of mutual interest. Dzhaparova will also call on Minister of State for External Affairs and Culture Meenakshi Lekhi and meet Deputy National Security

Ukraine rescue organisation brings 31 children taken to Russia during war

The head of a Ukrainian rescue organization said Saturday that the organization has brought back 31 children from Russia, where they had been taken during the war. Mykola Kuleba said at a news conference in Kyiv that the children were expected to arrive in the capital later in the day. Kuleba is the executive director of the Save Ukraine organization and is the presidential commissioner for children's rights. Deportations of Ukrainian children have been a concern since Russia's February 24, 2022, invasion of Ukraine. The International Criminal Court increased pressure on Russia when it issued arrest warrants on March 17 for President Vladimir Putin and Russian children's rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova, accusing them of abducting children from Ukraine. The International Committee of the Red Cross said this week it had been in contact with Lvova-Belova, the first confirmation of high-level international intervention to reunite families with children who were forcibly ...

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Microsoft fined $3 mn for selling software to sanctioned Russian firms

According to an enforcement notice from OFAC, Microsoft, Microsoft Ireland, and Microsoft Russia failed to oversee who was buying the company's software and services through third-party partners

Any Ukraine peace talks should focus on creating 'new world order': Lavrov

Lavrov added that Russia rejects a "unipolar world order led by 'one hegemon'."

Russia loses election to three UN bodies over West's support to Ukraine

Russia lost elections to three United Nations bodies this week, a sign that opposition to its invasion of Ukraine over a year ago remains strong. The votes in the 54-member UN Economic and Social Council follow approval of six non-binding resolutions against Russia by the 193-member U.N. General Assembly. The latest on Feb. 23, the eve of the first anniversary of the invasion called for Moscow to end hostilities and withdraw its forces and was adopted by a vote of 141-7 with 32 abstentions. In the ECOSOC votes, Russia was overwhelmingly defeated by Romania for a seat on the Commission on the Status of Women. It lost to Estonia to be a member of the executive board of the U.N. children's agency UNICEF. And it was defeated by Armenia and the Czech Republic in secret ballot votes for membership on the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said after Wednesday's votes, This is a clear signal from ECOSOC members that no country ...

Russia hits illegally annexed Ukraine areas from ground, air; causes damage

Russian forces used ground- and air-fired missiles, rocket launchers and weaponised drones to bombard the provinces of Ukraine it has illegally annexed but doesn't fully control, causing casualties, building damage and power outages Friday. The Ukrainian military said Russian forces launched 18 airstrikes, five missile strikes and 53 attacks from multiple rocket launchers between Thursday and Friday mornings. According to the General Staff statement, Russia was concentrating the bulk of its offensive operations in Ukraine's industrial east, focusing on the cities and towns of Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Marinka in Donetsk province. Most of Friday's battlefield reports concerned the four Ukrainian provinces Russia annexed in September: Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his military to gain complete control of the provinces, while Ukraine has indicated it will soon launch a counteroffensive to take back more territory. Russia a

World food prices fall for 12th month running in Mar following Ukraine war

Vegetable oils fell 3.0%, some 47.7% down on the level the index hit in March 2022, while the dairy index was down 0.8%

West must remove obstacles to its grain exports, says Russian official

Russia may pull out of a wartime deal that allows the export of Ukrainian grain to global markets if the West fails to remove obstacles to Russian agricultural exports, Moscow's top diplomat suggested Friday. The deal, which was brokered by the United Nations and Turkiye in July, unblocked shipments that were stuck in Ukraine's blockaded and mined ports, alleviating rising food prices and threat of hunger in some countries. A separate agreement aimed to facilitate the export of Russian fertilisers and grain. Moscow has repeatedly complained that the deal failed to work for Russian agricultural exports, which have had trouble reaching world markets due to Western sanctions. Speaking at a joint news conference with his Turkish counterpart, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters that Russia agreed last month to extend the deal for 60 days - instead of the 120 days set under a previous extension - to send a warning signal to the West. After we extended the deal for 120 .

Macron counting on Xi 'to bring Russia to senses' for ending Ukraine war

Macron and Xi engaged in closed-door talks on Thursday, which officials from the two nations described as being "frank" and "friendly"

Ukraine needs $14.1 bn for reconstruction this year in war-affected areas

Amid Russia's full scale invasion of Kiev, Ukraine needs about $14.1 billion this year to implement rapid recovery in war-affected areas

Western curbs on Russian oil products redraw global shipping map: Analysis

The redrawing of the shipping map underscores the knock-on effects of Western efforts to punish Russia over its invasion of Ukraine last year, adding to fuel supply insecurity and pushing up prices

Global trade growth to slow to 1.7% in 2023 amid rising inflation: WTO

Dragged down by a sharp slump in the fourth quarter, world trade volume grew by 2.7 per cent, "a smaller-than-expected increase"

Global trade growth expected to be subpar at 1.7% in 2023: WTO

With this, the trade growth is below the 12-year average of 2.6 per cent since the trade collapse that followed the global financial crisis in 2008

India abstains from vote on extending investigation into Ukraine war

When India abstained in February, India's Permanent Representative to the UN said that India remains committed to multilateralism while reiterating calls for dialogue and diplomacy

Ukraine to discuss NATO accession prospects in Brussels: FM Kuleba

The NATO-Ukraine Commission will also touch upon the issue of stable support for Ukraine from NATO member states, he said

US is providing Ukraine with $2.6 billion in military aid as war rages

The US will send Ukraine about USD 500 million in ammunition and equipment and spend more than USD 2 billion to buy an array of munitions, radar and other weapons for that country in the future, the White House announced Tuesday, as Ukrainian troops prepare for a spring offensive against Russian forces. Much of the ammunition will be taken from military stockpiles so they can be in the war zone quickly, including US-provided HIMARS, air defense interceptors, and artillery rounds that Ukraine is using to defend itself, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. HIMARS are multiple rocket launchers. The package, like many of the previous ones, is pushing forward more 155 mm artillery rounds as Ukraine burns through that stock fighting back against Russia's ground invasion. The immediate assistance includes anti-armour systems, small arms, heavy equipment transport vehicles, and maintenance support, the Pentagon said in a statement. We very much appreciate everything that

EU lashes out at China for extending support to Russia in Ukraine war

The European Union's foreign policy chief on Tuesday lashed out at China for its support of Russia amid the invasion of Ukraine and called it a blatant violation of Beijing's United Nations commitments. There cannot be siding with the aggressor, Josep Borrell said. There is a clear expectation from a permanent member of the (UN) Security Council to stand up in defence of international rules-based order and China as a moral duty to contribute to a fair peace. Standing alongside visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Borrell was forceful in his condemnation of a nation that has increasingly moved from being a partner to being a rival on the global stage. The comments come just ahead of a visit of EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen together with French President Emmanuel Macron to China, where both will press the point that EU-China relations will pivot on Beijing's friendship with Russia. Macron and von der Leyen are set to warn China against sending weapons to Russ

Lavrov ready to meet Blinken if there's willingness from US: Russian envoy

A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked CBI not to spare the corrupt, independent MP Kapil Sibal on Tuesday questioned the conviction rate in the current government which was only 71 in 2016.