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U.S. Sends ‘Kamikaze Drones’ to Ukraine; Pentagon Weighs Permanently Stationing More Troops in Europe

This has been CNBC’s live blog covering Wednesday’s updates on the war in Ukraine. Follow the latest updates here. Russian attacks on Ukraine are continuing after Moscow said it would reduce its military activity in some parts of the country. Russia said Tuesday that it would cut back its military activity near Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv but the U.S., the U.K. and Ukraine have expressed skepticism over Moscow’s pledge to scale back the fighting. Russian and Ukrainian delegates held face-to-face talks in Istanbul yesterday, with Ukraine’s delegation calling for an international agreement under which other nations would guarantee Ukraine’s security. Russia continues shelling, holds positions near Kyiv despite Moscow’s promises to scale back Significant Russian shelling and missile strikes have continued on the Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, and Russian troops are still holding positions close to Kyiv, despite promises to the contrary from Moscow, the United Kingdom said Thursday. Russian forces continue to hold positions to the east and west of Kyiv despite the withdrawal of a limited number of units, the U.K. Ministry of Defence said in an intelligence briefing. Chernihiv is about 90 miles north of Kyiv and 40 miles south of the Russian border. A Russian defense official said Wednesday that Moscow would drastically reduce military activity near Chernihiv and the capital of Kyiv, NBC News reported. U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken urged caution about believing Moscow’s promises. The Russian Defense Ministry’s press office was not immediately available to provide comment to CNBC. The British ministry said heavy fighting will likely take place in the suburbs of Kyiv in the coming days. Since last week, Ukrainian forces began to report retaking towns close to the capital. The situation around the capital is fluid, and those Ukrainian claims are difficult or impossible to verify. You do see the Ukrainians trying to take advantage of opportunities and roll back the Russians where they can, NBC News Global Security Reporter Dan De Luce said. Heavy fighting continues in Mariupol in the south, but the U.K. Ministry said Ukrainian defenders are still holding the city center. Mariupol has been largely destroyed by Russian artillery and missiles. Ted Kemp Putin may have been misinformed about Ukraine, U.S. intelligence shows According to newly declassified U.S. intelligence, Russian President Vladimir Putin feels he was misled by military leaders, who withheld details about the botched invasion of Ukraine out of fear. We believe that Putin is being misinformed by his advisers about how badly the Russian military is performing and how the Russian economy is being crippled by sanctions, because his senior advisers are too afraid to tell him the truth, said White House communications director Kate Bedingfield. As a result, there’s been persistent tension between Putin and his military leadership, she told reporters. A U.S. official told NBC News earlier that Putin didn’t know his military was using and losing conscripts in Ukraine, a sign that there was a clear breakdown in the flow of accurate information to the Russian President. When Putin actually realizes how badly his military is done in Ukraine, there might be a real potential here for escalation, said Pentagon press secretary John Kirby. Neither the White House nor the Pentagon would say how American intelligence agencies learned what Putin was and was not being told. Releasing intelligence strongly suggests the U.S. has a mole in Putin’s inner circle. Goh Chiew Tong, Christina Wilkie U.S. sends 100 killer drones to Ukraine, following Zelenskyy’s request for additional aid The U.S. will be sending 100 killer drones to Ukraine in a colossal weapons package that President Joe Biden approved earlier this month, officials have confirmed. The so-called kamikaze drones will be deployed to Ukraine soon, according to the Pentagon. It comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s request to U.S. lawmakers for additional military equipment. We’ve heard the Ukrainians and we take that request very seriously, said Celeste Wallander, assistant secretary of Defense for international security. It’s not clear how often the U.S. military has used the killer drones on the battlefield and AeroVironment, the U.S.-based firm that manufactures the weapon, declined to comment on the arms transfer. The Switchblades are equipped with cameras, navigation systems and guided explosives. They can be programmed to automatically strike targets that are miles away or can loiter above a target until engaged by an operator to strike. Goh Chiew Tong, Amanda Macias Congress hears sirens wail as Ukraine legislators visit Elizabeth Frantz Reuters U.S. Senator Rob Portman is flanked by Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova and U.S. Senator Dick Durbin as he speaks during a meeting between members of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus and members of the Ukrainian Parliament at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., March 30, 2022. As members of the Ukrainian parliament were pleading for aid on Capitol Hill, an air raid siren blared from one of their cell phones a wrenching alert from the war-torn country back home. One of the visitors reached into her bag, pulled out the phone and let the siren wail in the halls of Congress. Right now, you hear the sound? said Anastasia Radina, a member of the Ukrainian Rada. This is the air raid alarm in the community where my son is staying right now, she said at a press conference this week after meeting with members of Congress. I need you all to hear that. Associated Press Pentagon weighs stationing more troops permanently in Eastern Europe Allison Joyce AFP Getty Images US soldiers walk to board a plane from Pope Army Airfield in Fort Bragg, North Carolina on February 14, 2021 as they are deployed to Europe. The Pentagon is considering sending more U.S. troops to Eastern Europe on a permanent basis, citing significant changes in the security environment. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the issue is under discussion, but no decisions have been made. Earlier in the day, the top U.S. commander in Europe told lawmakers that the U.S. and NATO military footprint in Europe and specifically in the Baltics has got to change. Certainly this is an opportunity as a result of this senseless act on behalf of Russia, to re-examine the permanent military architecture that exists not only in Eastern Europe, but in our air policing activity in aviation and in our standing naval maritime groups, U.S. Air Force Tod Wolters said before the House Armed Services Committee. Amanda Macias Satellite images show Mariupol before and after destruction Satellite images from Maxar Technologies show total destruction from above in Mariupol. Here is a before and after view. Before Maxar Technologies Getty Images Maxar satellite imagery of homes and buildings before the invasion, Mariupol, Ukraine on June 21, 2021 After Maxar Technologies Getty Images Maxar satellite imagery of destruction of homes and buildings after the invasion, Mariupol, Ukraine on March 29th, 2022. Maxar Technologies via Getty Images U.S. will provide $500 million in direct budgetary aid to Zelenskyy’s government Courtesy: The White House President Biden has warned Putin that the U.S. and its allies are willing to impose swift and severe costs on Russia. President Joe Biden told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that the United States plans to provide his government with $500 million in direct budgetary aid, according to a White House readout of Biden’s secure call with the Ukrainian leader. In the world of international assistance, direct budgetary aid is relatively rare. More often nation-to-nation aid comes in the form of already paid-for things, like food or weapons or subject matter experts, and monetary loans. Direct budgetary aid, on the other hand, generally comes with few strings attached, the closest thing to a cash gift from one government to another. The monthlong Russian invasion of Ukraine has severely hampered Kyiv’s ability to collect tax revenue and remain operational, making this kind of cash aid especially important. Congress recently approved a separate, more than $13 billion package of supplemental aid for Ukraine. But nearly all of that money is already committed to specific things, like refugee housing, defensive arms and medical supplies. Christina Wilkie U.K. aims to stop sanctioned oligarchs from maintaining their planes and yachts James Manning Pa Images Getty Images The superyacht Phi owned by a Russian businessman in Canary Wharf, east London which has been detained as part of sanctions against Russia. The U.K. announced new legislation that aims to prohibit maintenance on aircraft or yachts belonging to sanctioned Russian elites and their businesses. The new measures come after Britain designated more than 1,200 individuals and entities close to Russian President Vladimir Putin. There is no doubt that Putin and his elite have been surprised by the strength of our sanctions, U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss wrote in a statement. We will continue to ramp up the pressure so long as Russian troops are in Ukraine, targeting not only the businesses of oligarchs but also their assets and international lifestyles, Truss added. Amanda Macias Top U.S. commander in Europe says Putin believed that Russians supported a Ukraine invasion Sergey Guneev Sputnik Reuters Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during a concert marking the eighth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia March 18, 2022. America’s top commander in Europe gave his best assessment as to why Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to invade Ukraine. I think he felt like he had the popular support of the citizens of Russia. I also felt like he was attempting to take advantage of fissures that could have appeared in NATO as a result of the post-Afghanistan environment, U.S. Air Force General and NATO Supreme Allied Commander Tod Wolters said during testimony before the House Armed Services Committee. Tom Williams Cq-roll Call, Inc. Getty Images General Tod Wolters, commander, U.S. European Command, testifies during the House Armed Services Committee hearing titled National Security Challenges and U.S. Military Activity in Europe, in Rayburn Building on Wednesday, March 30, 2022. I also think it has to do with his age and its efficacy. All those combined together put him in a position where he elected to go at this time, Wolters said when asked why Putin chose Feb. 24 to invade Ukraine. The overriding variable in my view is the fact that he believes that he has popular support from his citizens, said Wolters, who also serves as commander of U.S. European Command. Amanda Macias Zelenskyy says he and Biden discussed a new sanctions package Ukrainian Presidential Press Service Reuters Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy addresses the members of Norwegian parliament via video link, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine March 30, 2022. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hourlong secure call with U.S. President Joe Biden finished just after noon, the White House said. Ten minutes later, the Ukrainian leader tweeted that he and Biden had discussed a number of topics, most notably new sanctions on Russia and specific materiel that Ukraine needs. The White House has been working on a package of new sanctions to impose on Russia that would be aimed at making it harder for Russia’s military to get parts and material. Christina Wilkie Russia’s battlefield performance in Ukraine ‘baffling,’ top U.S. commander in Europe says Win Mcnamee Getty Images General Tod Wolters, U.S. European Command and NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee March 29, 2022 in Washington, DC. America’s top commander in Europe described Russia’s largely stalled military campaign and overall battlefield performance in Ukraine as baffling. There was a degree of miscalculation and it’s evident by the performance of the Russian military up to this point, U.S. Air Force General and NATO Supreme Allied Commander Tod Wolters said during testimony before the House Armed Services Committee. This one has been baffling, said Wolters, who also serves as commander of U.S. European Command. He added that the U.S. military should be prepared to take a really good look at Russia’s military force posture. Since the Kremlin’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces have been increasingly beset by logistical and command and control issues, as well as morale problems. Amanda Macias The art of war: Murals show support for Ukraine Artists around the world created murals to show support for Ukraine as Russia’s invasion continues. Chesnot Getty Images Fresco murals by French street artists Kelu Abstract and Jeff Aerosol are displayed on the wall of a Parisian building on March 14, 2022 in Paris, France. Nikolay Doychinov AFP Getty Images A resident walks past mural painting by Bulgarian artist Stanislav Belovski depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin holding his own body in Sofia, on March 15, 2022. Juan Mabromata AFP Getty Images A woman walks pass the mural No to war by muralist Maximiliano Bagnasco in Buenos Aires on March 5, 2022. Mateusz Slodkowski Lightrocket Getty Images A mural of Putin, Hitler, and Stalin with a slogan No More Time is seen on the wall next to the PKM Gdansk Jasien train station. Huw Fairclough Getty Images A resident looks at new street art mural has appeared in Cardiff depicting Ukraine’s capital Kyiv under siege on March 01, 2022 in Cardiff, Wales. To see more murals from around the world, click here. Adam Jeffery 100 ‘killer drones’ included in latest U.S. arms package for Ukraine Courtesy: AeroVironment AeroVironment Switchblade 600 Drone American officials told lawmakers that the U.S. will send killer drones to Ukraine at the country’s request. We have committed 100 switchblade tactical unmanned aerial systems to be delivered in the most recent package of presidential drawdown, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Celeste Wallander said in testimony before the House Armed Services Committee. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters last week that the drones would arrive in Ukraine soon, but declined to elaborate further. There are two variants of the weapon, the Switchblade 300 and the 600, manufactured by U.S.-based firm AeroVironment. It was not immediately clear which variant of the weapon the U.S. deployed to Ukraine. The 300 version is designed to strike small targets. It can fit in a rucksack, weighs a little over 5 pounds and has a range of 10 miles. The 600 variant of the weapon is designed to destroy tanks and other armored vehicles. It weighs slightly more than 120 pounds and has a range of more than 40 miles. Amanda Macias Zelenskyy and Biden plan to speak by phone today Ukrainian Presidential Press Service via Reuters Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends an interview with some of the Russian media via videolink, as Russia?s attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine March 27, 2022. President Joe Biden is slated to speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy around 10:45 a.m. ET, the White House said in a statement. The two leaders are planning to discuss our continued support for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression. The call follows Russia’s claim Tuesday that it would dramatically reduce its military activity around the capital Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv. The announcement from the Russian Ministry of Defense was met with deep skepticism by officials in both Washington and Kyiv. Christina Wilkie The aftermath of shelling in Donetsk Emergency specialists work at a residential building damaged by shelling in the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk during Russia’s war in Ukraine. Alexander Ermochenko Reuters Emergency specialists work at a residential building damaged by shelling during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk, Ukraine March 30, 2022. Alexander Ermochenko Reuters A woman carries a bottle of water as emergency specialists work at a residential building damaged by shelling during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk, Ukraine March 30, 2022. Alexander Ermochenko Reuters Firefighters work at a residential building damaged by shelling during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk, Ukraine March 30, 2022. Reuters Russia’s Lavrov says Moscow will move toward ‘multipolar world order’ with China Kirill Kudryavtsev Reuters Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a news conference following talks with President of the International Committee of the Red Cross Peter Maurer in Moscow, Russia March 24, 2022. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov touted a move toward a new world order during a visit to China on Wednesday. We are living through a serious stage in the history of international relations, he said. I am convinced that the outcome of this stage will substantially clarify the international situation. We will move towards a multipolar, equitable and democratic world order with China and other like-minded nations. China, a close ally of Russia, has so far refused to fully denounce Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, and has not joined the coordinated move to impose economic sanctions on Moscow. Chloe Taylor Russia regrouping away from Kyiv but Ukraine still under constant attack, officials say Russia is regrouping its troops away from Kyiv to concentrate on its offensive in eastern Ukraine, Ukraine’s armed forces have said in a new update. Moscow was moving to increase the supply of troops in the Donetsk and Tavriya directions, the update said, while offensives were also underway in other parts of the country. In the northern direction, the occupier focused on shelling areas of Chernihiv and strengthening defensive positions, Ukraine’s armed forces said. Russia said Tuesday that it would cut back its military activity in and around Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv. Oleksiy Arestovych, an advisor to the Ukrainian Presidential Office, said in a video message on Wednesday that Russia had ulterior motives for regrouping its troops away from the capital. The Russians are not simply removing their troops from Kyiv and from the north of Ukraine they are transferring them to the Joint Forces Operation zone in eastern Ukraine and near Mariupol in order to have a qualitative and quantitative advantage in these areas, he said, according to an NBC News translation. Meanwhile, Oleh Synegubov, governor of the Kharkiv region, said Wednesday that Russian forces had been constantly firing on multiple districts around Kharkiv, and Ukraine’s Human Rights Ombudsman said every day Ukrainian towns and cities were being shaken by constant shelling and bombing. Chloe Taylor China says relations with Russia are withstanding ‘test of international turbulence’: State-controlled media Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Wednesday that China-Russia relations have withstood the test of international turbulence, according to Chinese state-run television channel Phoenix TV. According to Phoenix TV, he made the comments during a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. Wang also said that China’s relations with Russia maintained the correct direction and continue to develop resiliently, according to the Chinese broadcaster. China, a close ally of Russia, has so far refused to fully denounce Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, and has not joined the coordinated move to impose economic sanctions on Moscow. Chloe Taylor Kyiv officials say capital hit by multiple shelling strikes Metin Aktas Anadolu Agency Getty Images A completely destroyed building is seen after Russian shelling in the Sviatoshinsky district of Kyiv, Ukraine on March 30, 2022. The Kyiv region has been hit by more than 30 shelling strikes over the past 24 hours, officials said Wednesday. More than 30 shellings of housing estates and infrastructure facilities have been recorded, the Kyiv Regional State Administration said in a Telegram post translated by NBC News. Authorities said in the post that the most dangerous areas in the region were the settlements along the Zhytomyr highway, as well as the north of Vyshhorod district and the settlements of Baryshivska and Velikodimerska on the outskirts of the capital. On Tuesday, Russia said it would scale back its military operations in and around Kyiv. Chloe Taylor 45 of Ukrainians worried about finding enough food, UN says Thomas Peter Reuters People line up for food handed out by volunteers at a humanitarian aid distribution point, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, March 28, 2022. An estimated 45 of the Ukrainian population is worried about finding enough to eat, the U.N.’s World Food Programme said Wednesday. The organization said it was already supporting 1 million people on the ground in Ukraine by supplying them with food. Just one month ago, we had no presence on the ground, no staff, no network of suppliers or partners. To build an operation from the ground up and get food to one million people seemed a monumental challenge, Jakob Kern, WFP’s emergency coordinator for Ukraine, said in a press release. Now that the structures are in place, we need the funding to keep delivering assistance, and to help 3 million people in need. Chloe Taylor 145 children have died in the war, Ukraine says Yuriy Dyachyshyn AFP Getty Images In this picture taken on March 18, 2022, 109 empty strollers are seen placed outside the Lviv city council during an action to highlight the number of children killed in the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. Since Russia invaded on Feb. 24, 145 children have been killed in the conflict in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Human Rights Ombudsman said Wednesday. A further 222 children have been injured, officials said, noting that children in the Kyiv region suffered the most. Chloe Taylor Russia state Duma speaker suggests switching to ruble payments for more exports Simon Dawson Bloomberg Getty Images Russian State Duma chairman and speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said Wednesday that Moscow should consider asking for payments in rubles for more of its exported goods. The Kremlin has repeatedly demanded that so-called unfriendly countries pay in rubles for gas, a demand that has been rejected by G-7 countries. European politicians need to stop talking, stop looking for excuses why their countries cannot pay in rubles, Volodin said on Telegram Wednesday, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin made the right decision by demanding payments for gas be made in the Russian currency. Most countries currently pay for Russian gas in euros or dollars. It would be right, where it is profitable for our country, to expand the list of goods exported for rubles: fertilizers, grain, oil, oil, coal, metals, timber, etc., Volodin added. I appeal to colleagues from the national parliaments of unfriendly countries: take the issue of ruble settlements more seriously. Volodin, an influential lawmaker in the Russian political sphere, has been an outspoken supporter of Moscow’s military action in Ukraine. Chloe Taylor 4 million have fled Ukraine, UN says Angel Garcia Bloomberg Getty Images A displaced Ukrainian and child make their way to board a bus for onward travel at a temporary refugee center, setup at a disused Tesco building, in Przemysl, Poland, on Wednesday, March 16, 2022. More than 4 million refugees have fled Ukraine since Russia invaded the country in late February, the U.N.’s Office for the High Commissioner for Refugees said Wednesday. Chloe Taylor Chernihiv official says Russia continuing to attack the region despite claims it would pull troops back Oleh Holovatenko Reuters An external view shows hotel ‘Ukraine’ destroyed during an air strike, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in central Chernihiv, Ukraine March 12, 2022. Viasheslav Chaus, governor of Chernihiv, said Wednesday that Russian forces spent the whole night attacking the region despite Moscow’s claims yesterday that it would pull troops back from Kyiv and Chernihiv. Yesterday, the Russians publicly stated that they were reducing their offensive actions and activity in the Chernihiv and Kyiv areas. Do we believe that? Of course not, Chaus said in a Telegram post. The enemy demonstrated a ‘decrease in activity’ in the Chernihiv region by striking Nizhyn, including by air, and spent the whole night hitting Chernihiv, he added. Civil infrastructure has been destroyed again, libraries, shopping malls and other facilities have been destroyed, and many houses have been destroyed. Because, in fact, the enemy roamed Chernihiv all night. CNBC has not been able to independently verify these reports. A spokesperson for the Russian government was not immediately available for comment. Chloe Taylor Germany declares ‘early warning’ stage of gas supply emergency Kay Nietfeld Picture Alliance Getty Images German Economy Minister Robert Habeck holds a press conference on Wednesday, March 30, 2022. Germany is bracing for a potential disruption of natural gas supplies, activating the first early warning stage of an emergency amid a dispute with Russia. German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said in a news conference the measure was the first of three stages and does not yet imply a state intervention to ration gas supplies. Habeck called for consumers and companies to reduce consumption, however, reportedly saying that every kilowatt hour counts. It comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin urges so-called unfriendly countries to pay in rubles for Russian gas. The G-7, which induces Germany, has rejected that demand. Habeck has said Germany, which imported around 55 of its gas supplies from Russia last year, would not be able to achieve full independence from Moscow before mid-2024. Sam Meredith You can’t trust ‘what is coming out of the mouth of Putin’s war machine,’ UK’s deputy PM says Peter Summers Getty Images Foreign Minister Dominic Raab is pictured in Downing Street on March 25, 2020 in London, England. U.K. Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab has expressed skepticism over Russia’s claims that it intends to scale back its military operations in some parts of Ukraine. We judge the Russian military machine by its actions, not just its words, he told Sky News on Wednesday, saying the U.K. was not putting a lot of faith in Russia’s stated intentions. There’s some skepticism that Russia will regroup to attack again rather than seriously engage in diplomacy or anything of that nature, Raab added. Of course, the door to diplomacy will always be left ajar, but I don’t think you can trust what is coming out of the mouth of Putin’s war machine. Chloe Taylor Sanctions on Russia to continue until we see de-escalation, Italy’s Di Maio says Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio told CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe that sanctions on Russia will continue until Italy sees military de-escalation in Ukraine. Chloe Taylor Japan skeptical over Russian pledge to cut military operations Japan has expressed skepticism over Russia’s pledge to reduce its military operations in and around the Ukrainian capital. We are aware that during the ceasefire negotiations between Russia and Ukraine on March 29, both sides made certain concessions, with the Russian side indicating its intention to drastically reduce military operations in and around the capital, Kyiv, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters at a briefing on Wednesday. He noted that U.S. President Joe Biden and other U.S. government officials were taking a wait-and-see approach to Russia’s stated intentions, with some saying this is merely a repositioning of Moscow’s troops and not an actual withdrawal. Japan shares the belief that it is important to achieve a concrete cease-fire as soon as possible, and we will continue to monitor the situation with great interest, and at the same time, we will provide the various types of support to Ukraine that we have already announced in a prompt and steady manner, Matsuno said. In order to immediately stop Russia’s aggression and ensure the withdraw of its troops it is important for the international community to work together and continue to take strong measures against Russia. Chloe Taylor EU to pressure China over stance on Russia-Ukraine war Kenzo Tribouillard AFP Getty Images President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen delivers a statement in Brussels. The European Union wants to put pressure on China to be neutral with its stance over Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine, sources with knowledge of the matter told CNBC ahead of a virtual meeting between Brussels and Beijing on Friday. There is concern among western officials regarding the role that China might play in the war between Russia and Ukraine. The Chinese authorities have so far refused to fully denounce Russia’s unprovoked invasion of its neighbor having abstained during a vote for a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Moscow. China has also supported Moscow’s complaints about NATO expansion and U.S. officials have also said that Russia has asked China for military and economic support something that the Kremlin and Beijing have both denied. European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are speaking Friday with China’s Prime Minister Li Keqiang at 10 a.m. Brussels time and then with Chinese President Xi Jinping at 2 p.m. The goal of the summit is ensuring, in a way, the neutrality of China so they don’t help Russia, an EU official, who did not want to be named due to the sensitivity of the discussions, told CNBC Tuesday. Read the full story here. Silvia Amaro Ukrainian official says Russia will target Kyiv ‘until the end of the conflict’ Gleb Garanich Reuters A Ukrainian service member walks on the front line near Kyiv as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, Ukraine March 29, 2022. Oleksiy Arestovtch, an advisor to the Ukrainian President’s Office, said Wednesday morning that ongoing talks between Russia and Ukraine would do nothing to decelerate the war. Negotiations will in no way slow down the war and will not cancel it, he said on Telegram in the early hours of Wednesday morning. This is a separate line that prepares a future peace agreement, because any war, even a hundred years’ war, ends with a peace agreement. He noted, however, that serious success had been achieved at Tuesday’s talks in Istanbul. Ukraine has improved its pre-war position in all areas of consultation, Arestovtch said. At some point the negotiating and military lines will converge and this will definitely be a victory for Ukraine. But he expressed skepticism over the pledge Russia made at the meeting to scale back its military activity near Kyiv and the city of Chernihiv. Russian troops will be targeting the cities until the very end of the conflict, he said. Including Kyiv. Chloe Taylor Russian attacks continue in Ukraine Alexander Ermochenko Reuters Service members of pro-Russian troops are seen atop of an armoured vehicle in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict on a road leading to the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine March 28, 2022. Ukraine’s armed forces said in an update Wednesday morning that more than 1,000 Russian troops had been transferred from occupied Georgia to reinforce Russia’s military presence in Ukraine. The enemy continues to conduct full-scale armed aggression against our state, officials said in the update, adding that Russian troops continue to loot the homes and apartments of local residents, detain pro-Ukrainian activists and government officials in Ukraine. CNBC has not been able to independently verify these reports. A spokesperson for the Russian government was not available for comment when contacted by CNBC. Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said on Telegram Wednesday morning there had been shelling attacks in Kyiv’s Brovary district yesterday, which resulted in a fire. It was not specified if there were any casualties. Officials also said Russian troops had fired on residential neighborhoods in the Luhansk region early this morning. Authorities said there were victims in the attack, and were clarifying the information on casualties resulting from the attack. Rescuers are trying to save the living, Luhansk Governor Serhii Haidai said. Chloe Taylor Russian military is suffering ‘heavy losses’ but will likely continue with attacks, the U.K. says (https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/business/money-report/russias-pledge-to-scale-back-in-ukraine-met-with-skepticism-eu-to-put-pressure-on-china/3012080/)

Ukraine Claims 410 Bodies Found in Recaptured Towns; Zelenskyy Accuses Russia of Genocide. Follow Our Live Updates

This is CNBC’s live blog tracking Sunday’s developments on the war in Ukraine. See below for the latest updates. Ukraine’s top prosecutor said 410 bodies were found in towns near Kyiv as part of an investigation into possible war crimes by Russia. Some witnesses, however, are so traumatized by their ordeal that they are unable to speak, said Iryna Venedyktova, Ukraine’s prosecutor general. After Russia withdrew from some areas around Kyiv, the mayor in Bucha, a liberated town 23 miles northwest of the capital, said that 300 residents had been killed by Russian forces while fighters from Chechnya controlled the area. Russia has denied allegations its troops killed civilians in Bucha. Ukrainian prosecutors were only able to enter the towns of Bucha, Irpin and Hostomel for the first time on Sunday and they need more time to work out the extent of the crimes, Venedyktova said. We need to work with witnesses, Venedyktova said. People today are so stressed that they are physically unable to speak. For his part, Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskiy said it was clear hundreds of civilians had been killed but that he did not want to say exactly how many there were, as efforts were still under way to clear mines in the area Earlier, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of genocide against Ukrainian people, saying in an interview that: We have more than 100 nationalities. This is about the destruction and extermination of those nationalities. Zelenskyy made those comments after warning that forces want to seize the east and south of the country. He also said Ukrainian forces had regained control over communities in Kyiv and Chernihiv. Zelenskyy has also called for a ceasefire before meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Reuters Russia is using ‘a lot of manipulation’ to prop up the value of its currency, Blinken says Jakub Porzycki Nurphoto Getty Images Russian one ruble coin and Russian flag displayed on a screen are seen in this multiple exposure illustration photo taken in Krakow, Poland on March 8, 2022. The dramatic recovery in the value of the Russian ruble is due, in large part, to a lot of manipulation from the government in Moscow, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken claimed in an interview Sunday. The ruble traded at 84.62 per dollar, as of Friday, which is back near levels seen before the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine prompted historic economic sanctions against Russia. The ruble’s value initially plummeted, trading as low as 151.5 per dollar on March 7, according to FactSet data. When it comes to the ruble, it’s more than a little manipulation, it’s a lot of manipulation. People are being prevented from unloading rubles, Blinken said in an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press, referring to capital controls implemented by Russia’s central bank. That’s artificially propping up the value. That’s not sustainable, so I think you’re going to see that change, Blinken said, suggesting that the strict sanctions combined with Western businesses leaving Russia will, over the long term, weigh on the currency and economy writ large. The export controls that we’ve imposed on Russia, denying it the technology it needs to modernize industry after industry, that’s going to have an increasing bite, he said. Kevin Stankiewicz Wreckage of the Antonov An-225, once world’s biggest aircraft, seen in Hostomel, Ukraine A view of the wreckage of the Antonov An-225 Mriya cargo plane at an airshed in Hostomel, Ukraine, on April 3, 2022. The Mriya was once the world’s biggest aircraft but it was destroyed on or about Feb. 27, 2022, by Russian shelling as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continued. Metin Aktas Anadolu Agency Getty Images The wreckage of the world’s largest cargo plane Antonov An-225, which was severely damaged and rendered unusable due to Russian bombardments, was viewed by Anadolu Agency. Metin Aktas Anadolu Agency Getty Images A view of the wreckage of Antonov An-225 Mriya cargo plane, the world’s biggest aircraft, destroyed by Russian shelling as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, at an airshed in Hostomel, Ukraine on April 03, 2022. Metin Aktas Anadolu Agency Getty Images A view of the wreckage of Antonov An-225 Mriya cargo plane, the world’s biggest aircraft, destroyed by Russian shelling as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, at an airshed in Hostomel, Ukraine on April 03, 2022. Metin Aktas Anadolu Agency Getty Images A view of the wreckage of Antonov An-225 Mriya cargo plane, the world’s biggest aircraft, destroyed by Russian shelling as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, at an airshed in Hostomel, Ukraine on April 03, 2022. Metin Aktas Anadolu Agency Getty Images The wreckage of the world’s largest cargo plane Antonov An-225, which was severely damaged and rendered unusable due to Russian bombardments, was viewed by Anadolu Agency. Metin Aktas Anadolu Agency Getty Images A view of the wreckage of Antonov An-225 Mriya cargo plane, the world’s biggest aircraft, destroyed by Russian shelling as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, at an airshed in Hostomel, Ukraine on April 03, 2022. Anadolu Agency Russia denies killing civilians in Bucha, calls photos, film of alleged war crimes’staged’ EDITOR’S NOTE: Image in this post contains graphic content Russia denied widely reported allegations it had killed civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, describing footage and photographs of dead bodies as a provocation and a staged performance by Kyiv. Ukraine has accused the Russian military of massacring residents in the town, located northwest of the capital, an area Ukrainian troops said they recaptured on Saturday. All the photos and videos published by the Kyiv regime, allegedly testifying to the ‘crimes’ of Russian servicemen in the city of Bucha, Kyiv region, are another provocation, Russia’s defense ministry said, in a statement. Sergei Supinsky AFP Getty Images A mass grave is seen behind a church in the town of Bucha, northwest of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on April 3, 2022. During the time that Russian armed forces were in control of this settlement, not a single local resident suffered from any violent actions, it said. Moscow has previously denied allegations that it has targeted civilians, and has rejected accusations of war crimes. Reuters Polish PM calls for EU meeting to impose harsh sanctions Metin Aktas Anadolu Agency Getty Images A photo shows damages from conflict areas in the Hostomel region, as Russian attacks on Ukraine continue, on April 03, 2022 in Bucha, Ukraine. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called for a meeting with European heads of state as soon as possible to impose hard-hitting sanctions on Russia following reports that the nation’s forces executed scores of Ukrainian civilians. The massacre in Bucha is more than an alarm bell for Europe and the world. It is a terrible cry for justice, freedom and the right to life; for basic and universal values, Morawiecki said in a Facebook post. He added that Russian troops committed acts of genocide. The EU must confiscate all Russian assets in its western banks as well as those of Russian oligarchs. It must sever all trade relations with Russia without delay. European money must stop flowing to the Kremlin. Putin’s criminal and increasingly totalitarian regime needs to have one thing imposed on it: SANCTIONS WHICH ACTUALLY WORK, he said. Jessica Bursztynsky Ukraine foreign minister: Russia’s war crimes make it ‘worse than ISIS’ Sopa Images Lightrocket Getty Images Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, pictured here at the Ukrainian Embassy in Warsaw, Poland, called Russia worse than ISIS after apparent evidence emerged of civilian atrocities near Kyiv. Ukraine minister of foreign affairs Dmytro Kuleba said in a video on Sunday that Russia is worse than ISIS, referring to the Islamic extremist group. In its atrocities, in its crimes both the scale of these crimes and the ruthlessness of the behavior of the Russian army in Ukraine, Kuleba said in a video on Twitter. I don’t know where these soldiers were educated what kind of values they have, if any, Kuleba added. It’s unspeakable. Rapes, tortures, murders of civilians. He noted that Ukraine has begun work to prosecute everyone involved in these crimes. Kuleba also said that he is trying to prepare myself for images and videos which will come from Mariupol when we liberate it. Probably they will be even more devastating, Kuleba said. Michael Sheetz Scholz says West to agree more sanctions on Russia in coming days Hannibal Hanschke Reuters German Chancellor Olaf Scholz gives a press statement about the war crimes discovered the day before in Bucha, Ukraine, at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany April 3, 2022. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Sunday Western allies would agree further sanctions on Russia in the coming days over its invasion of Ukraine and the atrocities committed by Russian troops in a town near Kyiv. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his supporters will feel the consequences of their actions, he said, in a statement to reporters in the chancellery. And we will continue to make weapons available to Ukraine so the country can defend itself against the Russian invasion. Reuters Civilians take shelter from Russian artillery in Kharkiv Civilians are seen taking shelter from Russian artillery in the Kharkiv area of Ukraine. Wolfgang Schwan Anadolu Agency Getty Images Civilians are seen taking shelter from Russian artillery in the Kharkiv area of Ukraine on April 3, 2022. Wolfgang Schwan Anadolu Agency Getty Images Civilians are seen taking shelter from Russian artillery in the Kharkiv area of Ukraine on April 3, 2022. Wolfgang Schwan Anadolu Agency Getty Images Civilians are seen taking shelter from Russian artillery in the Kharkiv area of Ukraine on April 3, 2022. Wolfgang Schwan Anadolu Agency Getty Images Civilians are seen taking shelter from Russian artillery in the Kharkiv area of Ukraine on April 3, 2022. Wolfgang Schwan Anadolu Agency Getty Images Civilians are seen taking shelter from Russian artillery in the Kharkiv area of Ukraine on April 3, 2022. Getty Images U.S. to send more aid as Moldova embraces Ukraine war refugees Lev Radin Lightrocket Getty Images US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield makes a statement at a stakeout at the Security Council at UN Headquarters. Meeting was convened at the request of the Russian Federation who accused Ukraine of developing biological weapons under the tutelage of the United States without providing any evidence. The United States will give Moldova $50 million to help it cope with the impacts of Russia’s war against Ukraine, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said during a visit to the former Soviet republic on Sunday. She said the funding would support programs, training and equipment for border management, efforts to counter human trafficking, help to improve accountability and transparency in the justice sector, and combat corruption and cybercrime. Nearly 400,000 refugees have already fled Ukraine through Moldova, with about a quarter remaining in the country, since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. Moscow says it is carrying out a special military operation that aims to destroy Ukraine’s military infrastructure. The money pledged to Moldova by the United States on Sunday comes on top of $30 million announced last month to assist refugee relief efforts in Moldova over the next six months. Moldova, sandwiched between Ukraine and European Union member Romania, is one of Europe’s poorest countries and has 2.6 million people. Like Ukraine it aspires to join the EU. Reuters U.S. Secretary of State responds to claims of ‘genocide’ in Ukraine Jacquelyn Martin AFP Getty Images US Secretary of State Antony Blinken addresses the Media after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, at the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem, on March 27, 2022. America’s top diplomat on Sunday stopped short of agreeing with those who claim Russia is committing genocide against Ukrainian civilians during its invasion. We will look hard and document everything that we see, put it all together, and make sure the relevant institutions and organizations that are looking at this, including the State Department, have everything they need to asses exactly what took place in Ukraine, who is responsible and what it amounts to, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on CNN’s State of the Union. In a CBS interview that aired Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed the Russian military is committing genocide against Ukrainian people. The U.S. government has formally accused Russia of committing war crimes in Ukraine. That’s one of four main crimes over which the International Criminal Court has jurisdiction. Genocide, crime against humanity and crime of aggression are the other three. However, the U.S. is not a member of the ICC, which defines genocide as the specific intent to destroy in whole or in part a national, ethnic, racial or religious group by killing its members or by other means. Kevin Stankiewicz EU must discuss import ban on Russian gas, German defense minister says Michele Tantussi Reuters German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht speaks with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during the weekly cabinet meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, January 26, 2022. Germany’s defense minister said on Sunday that the European Union must discuss banning the import of Russian gas after Ukrainian and European officials accused Russian forces of committing atrocities near Kyiv. There has to be a response. Such crimes must not remain unanswered, the defense ministry quoted Christine Lambrecht as saying in an interview with the public broadcaster ARD. Berlin has so far resisted growing calls to impose an embargo on energy imports from Russia, saying its economy and that of other European countries are too dependent on them. Russia supplies 40 of Europe’s gas needs. But Lambrecht said EU ministers would now have to discuss a ban, according to a tweet from her ministry. Reuters Boris Johnson says Putin and his troops ‘are committing war crimes’ Thomas Coex AFP Getty Images Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during a press conference at NATO Headquarters in Brussels on March 24, 2022. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said graphic reports coming out of Bucha and Irpin are more evidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his forces are committing war crimes in Ukraine. I will do everything in my power to starve Putin’s war machine, Johnson said in a statement. We are stepping up our sanctions and military support, as well as bolstering our humanitarian support package to help those in need on the ground. Ukrainian officials have accused Russian forces of executing civilians prior to their retreat of areas surrounding the capital of Kyiv. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry posted a video early Sunday that showed bodies in civilian clothing on the side of the road, accusing Russian forces of executing the residents. Earlier in the day, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss called for the attacks to be investigated as war crimes, adding the U.K. would support any investigations by the International Criminal Court. Russia has denied committing the atrocities, according to The New York Times. No denial or disinformation from the Kremlin can hide what we all know to be the truth Putin is desperate, his invasion is failing, and Ukraine’s resolve has never been stronger, Johnson said in a statement. Jessica Bursztynsky Zelenskyy says U.S. has not yet offered Ukraine security guarantees Ukrainian Presidential Press Service via Reuters Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends an interview with some of the Russian media via videolink, as Russia?s attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine March 27, 2022. The U.S. has not provided Ukraine an official security guarantee, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told CBS’ Face the Nation. In an interview that aired Sunday, Zelenskyy said he was grateful for the support Washington has offered Ukraine to date to assist the country in defending against Russia’s invasion. The U.S. has provided Ukraine more than $1 billion in security assistance, which includes more than 1,000 Stinger anti-aircraft systems and other military equipment like ammunition and body armor. But nevertheless, the United States have not provided the security guarantees to us, Zelenskyy said, according to a full CBS transcript. Ukrainian officials have recently focused on the concept of security guarantees in their diplomatic peace talks with Russia. According to Reuters, Ukraine has said it would be willing to adopt neutral status if it’s able to enter agreements with a group of countries that pledge to militarily defend Ukraine if Ukraine is attacked in the future. Zelenskyy described the security guarantees as an enforceable document, not just a piece of paper. He suggested that receiving such commitments from allies are critical for peace discussions with Russia to advance because so far, sanctions have yet to deter Russian aggression. We don’t believe in papers any longer. So we are very grateful for the support of the United States, Zelenskyy said. It’s a very powerful support. But in terms of security guarantees, we have not received them yet from anyone, and we have to get them. Kevin Stankiewicz At least 1,417 civilians killed in Ukraine, UN says Alexander Ermochenko Reuters Local resident Pavel, 42, stands next to the grave of his friend Igor, who was killed by shelling while they were riding together in a car during Ukraine-Russia conflict, in a residential area in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine March 30, 2022. At least 1,417 civilians, including 121 children, have been killed since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said. An additional 2,038 have been injured, including 171 children, from Feb. 24 to April 2, it added. The agency expects the actual figures to be considerably higher. It’s been difficult for officials to determine the extent of injuries and deaths in areas with heavy fighting or that have been taken over by Russian forces. The bulk of the injuries have been caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, such as shelling from heavy artillery and missile and air strikes, the agency said. Jessica Bursztynsky The war is exacerbating supply-chain disruptions that have sent U.S. auto prices sky-high Pablo Monsalve Corbis News Getty Images View of a used car dealership in Ridgewood, Queens New York on January 19, 2022. Inflation spiked to its highest level in four decades, sending consumer prices soaring 7 percent for the year ended. Russia’s war against Ukraine has thrown up a new obstacle to the global auto industry’s attempts to recover from a Covid-related global shortage of semiconductor chips and other key parts and the result is likely to keep prices of new and used vehicles sky-high for a while longer, The Associated Press reports. Ukraine is a key supplier of automotive wiring harnesses to automakers, particularly European automakers including BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen or at least it was before the invasion. Now, the Associated Press is reporting that automakers find themselves scrambling to replace the Ukrainian production further hampering their efforts to restore full production and ease the new-car supply crunch that has driven auto prices sharply higher since the beginning of the pandemic. The average price of a new vehicle in the U.S. is up 13 in the past year, to $45,596, according to an Edmunds.com report cited by The Associated Press. Average used prices have surged far more: They’re up 29 to $29,646 as of February. Before the war, S&P Global had predicted that global automakers would build 84 million vehicles this year and 91 million next year. Now it’s forecasting fewer than 82 million in 2022 and 88 million next year, according to the AP. John Rosevear European leaders call on Russia to pay for ‘war crimes’ in Bucha EDITORS NOTE: Image contains graphic content European leaders are calling for Russia to be held accountable amid allegations that its forces killed scores of civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry posted a video early Sunday that showed bodies in civilian clothing on the side of the road, accusing Russian forces of executing the residents. Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, shared several photos of casualties, some with their hands tied behind their backs. These people were not in the military. They had no weapons. They posed no threat. How many more such cases are happening right now in the occupied territories? Podolyak said on Twitter. Sergei Supinsky AFP Getty Images EDITORS NOTE: Graphic content: Communal workers carry a civilian in a body bag after he was killed during Russian army shelling in the town of Bucha, not far from the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on April 3, 2022. CNBC could not immediately independently verify the claims of execution. But reporters on the ground from The New York Times, Associated Press and Reuters said they saw bodies in civilian clothing on the streets. The AP saw some with their hands tied behind their backs, and also saw two bodies wrapped in plastic, bound with tape and thrown into a ditch. Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, called for an independent investigation into the atrocities. She added that perpetrators of war crimes would be held accountable. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the country would issue more severe sanctions in response to the reports. The images from Bucha are unbearable. Putin’s rampant violence is wiping out innocent families and knows no bounds, Baerbock said on Twitter, according to a translation. French President Emmanuel Macron said the images of dead civilians were unbearable. The Russian authorities will have to answer for these crimes, Macron said in a tweet. Jessica Bursztynsky Zelenskyy accuses Russia of committing ‘genocide’ in Ukraine Oleksandr Ratushniak Reuters Local residents ride bicycles past flattened civilian cars, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, on a street in the town of Bucha, in Kyiv region, Ukraine April 1, 2022. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused the Russian military of committing genocide against Ukrainian people. Zelenskyy made the comments in an interview on CBS’ Face the Nation, in light of the reported devastation in the town of Bucha, near the capital Kyiv. Russian forces have now retreated from the city after occupying it for weeks. This is genocide, Zelenskyy said. We have more than 100 nationalities. This is about the destruction and extermination of those nationalities. We are the citizens of Ukraine, and we don’t want to be subdued to the policy of Russian Federation. This is the reason we are being destroyed and exterminated. Ukrainian officials say bodies of dead civilians in Bucha show signs of torture and appear to be executed. Reuters reported some victims laid in mass graves while others were still on the city’s streets. Sergei Supinsky AFP Getty Images Editors Note: Graphic Content: A body of a civilian man with hands tied behind his back lies in the street as a communal worker prepares a plastic body bag to carry him to a waiting car in town of Bucha, not far from the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on April 3, 2022. The International Criminal Court is traditionally where claims of alleged war crimes are adjudicated. The ICC defines genocide as the specific intent to destroy in whole or in part a national, ethnic, racial or religious group by killing its members or by other means. Kevin Stankiewicz GOP Rep. Kinzinger: Tucker Carlson and politicians who supported Putin should ‘answer’ for their support Kevin Dietsch Getty Images Rep. Adam Kinzinger speaks after the Republican House caucus voted to remove Rep. Liz Cheney of her leadership, at the U.S. Capitol on on May 12, 2021 in Washington, DC. In a tweet from his personal account, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., said that members of Congress and media figures who have expressed support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine should now be held to account, given the emerging evidence of Russian atrocities in Bucha and other areas near Kyiv. He specifically called out Fox News’ Tucker Carlson and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy in the tweet. Carlson’s and McCarthy’s offices didn’t immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment. John Rosevear Russia’s move away from Kyiv not a ‘withdrawal’ but a ‘repositioning,’ NATO’s Secretary General says Halil Sagirkaya Anadolu Agency Getty Images NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg gives a press conference after the Extraordinary Summit of NATO Heads of State and Government in Brussels, Belgium on March 24, 2022. Appearing on CNN’s State of the Union, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that Russia’s retreat from Kyiv does not appear to be a withdrawal, but rather a shift in strategy. What we see is not really a withdrawal, we see that Russia is repositioning its troops, Stoltenberg told CNN’s Dana Bash. They are taking some of them back to rearm them, to reinforce them, and to resupply them. We should not in any way be too optimistic, the attacks will continue, and we are also concerned about potential increased attacks in the south and in the east. So this is not really a withdrawal, more a shift in strategy, focusing more on the South and East, he said. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken echoed Stoltenberg’s comments, telling NBC’s Meet the Press that Russian forces may be regrouping. They may be recalibrating. We’re focused on on what they’re doing, not what they’re saying. John Rosevear Pope Francis prays for end to’sacrilegious’ war Grzegorz Galazka Mondadori Portfolio Getty Images General audience of Pope Francis with the presence of a small group of faithful in masks after the long pause due to the coronavirus pandemic in the Cortile San Damaso. Vatican City, May 26th, 2021. Pope Francis prayed Sunday for an end to the sacrilegious war in Ukraine and for the world to show kindness and compassion to refugees as he concluded a two-day visit to Malta that was dominated by his concern for the devastation unleashed by Russia’s invasion. Francis asked for prayers for peace in Ukraine, a day after he blasted Russia’s invasion as infantile and based on anachronistic claims of nationalistic interests. He urged the faithful to think of the humanitarian tragedy unfolding in the martyred Ukraine, which continues to be bombarded in this sacrilegious war. May we be tireless in praying and in offering assistance to those who suffer. The Associated Press Zelenskyy calls for ceasefire before meeting with Putin Ukrainian Presidential Press Service via Reuters Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrives for a meeting with European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine April 1, 2022. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for a ceasefire so that he can meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. I can’t even have a meeting when the shelling is going on, Zelenskyy said on CBS’ Face the Nation. So, first the ceasefire and then we can have a meeting with the Russian president we will discuss a point in time where the end of the war will come. After discussions, Zelenskyy said Russian troops need to exit Ukrainian borders. This is the bare minimum, he said. Jessica Bursztynsky Ukraine says Bucha ‘massacre’ was deliberate, demands new Russia sanctions EDITORS NOTE: Image contains graphic content Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba accused Russia on Sunday of carrying out a deliberate massacre in the town of Bucha outside Kyiv and called on the G-7 to impose devastating new sanctions on Moscow. We are still gathering and looking for bodies, but the number has already gone into the hundreds. Dead bodies lie on the streets. They killed civilians while staying there and when they were leaving these villages and towns, his ministry quoted him as saying on Twitter. Sergei Supinsky AFP Getty Images EDITORS NOTE: Graphic Content: A communal worker standing inside a van loaded with body bags, waits for another body to be wrapped and collected by a colleague following Russian shelling of the town of Bucha, not far from the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on April 3, 2022. Russia has so far not commented publicly on the claims. Moscow has previously repeatedly denied Ukrainian claims that it has targeted civilians. Reuters Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister says more humanitarian corridors are set to open Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister, said in a message on the Telegram messaging app that more evacuations are planned. We continue to evacuate people from Mariupol to Zaporizhia, Vereshchuk wrote. There are currently 17 buses near Berdyansk 10 of them are for the evacuation of Mariupol residents and local residents. If they are not allowed into the city, we ask people to come to the checkpoint at the entrance to Berdyansk there they will be waiting for you. Seven additional buses will attempt once again to get near the battered port city of Mariupol, Vereshchuk said. Evacuations are also planned out of the towns of Lysychansk, Nyzhne, Popasna, Rubizhne, Severodonetsk, she added. Terri Cullen Russia will soon ask for ruble payments for other exports, Kremlin warns Dado Ruvic Reuters Russian rouble coins are seen in this illustration taken February 24, 2022. Russia will soon ask for ruble payments for other exports, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has warned, saying heavy economic sanctions imposed by the West have accelerated diminishing confidence in the dollar and euro. I have no doubt that it will in the future be extended to new groups of goods, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, Reuters reported, citing RIA news agency. Peskov’s comments referred to Moscow’s repeated demands that so-called unfriendly countries pay for Russian natural gas in rubles. The U.S. and international allies have imposed an unprecedented barrage of economic sanctions against Russia, seeking to isolate the Kremlin following its unprovoked onslaught in Ukraine. Sam Meredith Several missile strikes hit Ukraine’s southern port city of Mykolaiv, mayor says The Mayor of Mykolaiv Olexandr Senkevych has reported that several rocket attacks have hit Ukraine’s southern port city. Friends, we have had several missile strikes in the city. We are collecting data now, Senkevych said via Telegram, according to a translation. It comes shortly after a series of explosions could be heard in Ukraine’s southern city of Odesa, prompting thick black smoke to cover the sky. Like Mykolaiv, Odesa is a strategically important port hub on the Black Sea coast. Sam Meredith Ukraine sees sharp drop in March grain exports, economic (https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/business/money-report/missiles-slam-into-port-city-of-odesa-zelenskyy-says-russians-aim-to-seize-east-and-south-ukraine-follow-our-live-updates/2930821/)

33 Women Amplifying the Voices of African Leadership

The following content is provided by Global Group Media. It does not reflect the work or opinions of NBC Washington’s editorial staff. Click here to learn more about GGM’s Rising Woman Series Africa Edition. Introduction by Oni Aningo, Executive Director and Founder, Global Group Media and Creator, Rising Women Series. Women leaders around the world are an example of tenacity and diversity. With the world’s recent and urgent challenges, they continue to work towards a more equitable future that opens doors for women and girls. Oni Aningo, Executive Director, GGM & Creator, Rising Woman Series Finding women in leadership positions across Africa isn’t something new. Throughout the continent’s history, women have once and again proved to be critical problem solvers, from leading militaries and independence movements to fostering change by spearheading transitional post-conflict periods and taking on leadership roles across industries. I interviewed the IPU’s Secretary-General Martin Chungong who stressed that while strides still need to be made in seeing an equal representation of women parliamentarians around the world, for example, we must celebrate countries such as Rwanda who is leading the world with 61 percent of parliamentary seats occupied by women, Cuba in the second position with 53 percent of women taking up parliamentary seats, and the United Arab Emirates as the third country with 50 percent of women in Parliament. Behold the power of leadership and strong governance. From leaders in infrastructure and telecommunications to key roles in government and non-profits, we celebrate 33 of these global and African women impacting Africa. President Samia Suluhu Hassan, President of Tanzania During the first year of her presidency, President Suluhu Hassan Tanzania’s first female president has favored a diplomatic approach by traveling around Africa and Europe. Her efforts have paid off: Her administration has secured funding and signed contracts for a series of large contracts, including a $196 concessional loan for bus rapid transit, revamping the international airport, and close to $500 million in EU COVID-19 relief funds. She has also made it a case to appoint more women in key positions. Today, Tanzania has more women cabinet ministers than ever before with 9 out of 25 ministries led by women. President Sahle-Work Zewde, President of Ethiopia Zewde’s victory in the 2018 elections shook Ethiopia, as she became the first woman to hold the office and the only serving female head of state in Africa at the time. Her administration has collaborated with the African Development Bank to encourage development in Ethiopia which, on average, spends approximately 58 percent of its national budget on directly reducing poverty and boosting life expectancy. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General World Trade Organization, Nigeria/Switzerland A professional with over 30 years of experience in economy and international development, Okonjo-Iweala’s accolades are impressive, with some of the most notable ones being Minister of the Decade, one of 50 Greatest World Leaders, and Top 100 Most Influential People in the World. Through her work with multiple institutions, she has worked to immunize 760 children globally, mobilized financial support to fight COVID-19, and has assisted low-income countries during food and economic crises. Salwa Abdul Aziz Zein, CEO of the Private Office of H.H Sheikh Ahmed Bin Faisal Al Qassimi Group of Companies, United Arab Emirates/Tanzania Zein is no stranger to entrepreneurship, having successfully launched and managed several companies in Africa and the Gulf while in her twenties. As CEO, she oversees multiple projects, ranging from port developments, livestock trading, gold brokerage to renewable energy projects. Kiran Daswani, CEO, The Greens, Ghana With the goal of providing affordable and quality housing in the region, Daswani founded The Greens, a property development company that develops eco-friendly housing estates located in the Greater Accra Region. She was awarded Outstanding Business Leader of the Year Real Estate at the Ghana Business Standard awards in 2019. Funke Opeke, CEO MainOne, Nigeria After working for Verizon in the U.S., Opeke moved back to Nigeria and noticed the low internet connectivity. After securing financing, she founded MainOne in 2008 and led the construction of the region’s first private submarine cable, a 4,400 miles of fiber optic cable connecting Nigeria and Portugal. In early 2022, American firm Equinix acquired MainOne for $320 million. Adesola Sotande-Peters, CFO, Godrej Consumer Products for Africa, USA, Caribbean & Middle East, Nigeria/Dubai, UAE Sotande-Peters is not only an experienced finance executive and business leader, but is also a team player: she strives to empower others in the business world to exceed their goals through mentoring and training different talents. She’s successfully worked in multinational markets across different positions, and is currently the Chief Financial Officer at Godrej Consumer Products, a 124 year young company manufacturing, distributing, and marketing fast-moving consumer goods. Azukaego Chukwuelue, Founder, Truss Foundation, Nigeria Founded in 2018, the Truss Empowerment Foundation is a woman-led organization that supports and empowers women and girls through mentorships and networking opportunities, training programs, and business support. Drawing from her experience as a senior executive and business leader, Chukwuelue continuously seeks to inspire and support the next generation of Nigerian women leaders. Naya Powell, Founder & CEO, Utopia Spa & Global Wellness, USA Utopia SGW is a mission-driven enterprise combating the global burnout epidemic through a tech-enabled platform, providing virtual, live and on-demand multicultural wellness experiences and luxury global retreats including on the continent of Africa. Utopia SGW is revolutionizing wellness worldwide with thought leaders and community members across five continents and is a 2021 Google for Startups Black Founder Fund recipient. Powell is also a #1 bestselling author. Olayinka Fayomi, Chairwoman, Foreign Investment Network, Nigeria Aside from her position as the Foreign Investment Network’s Chairwoman, Fayomi is also the founder of the Nigerian Diaspora Investment Network and an NGO as well as the European Petroleum Club. Both promote investment opportunities in different industries. She’s also the publisher of the investment journal FIN Magazine, which has over 5,000 subscribers and represents over 5,000 potential investors. Ambassador Elsie Sia Kanza, Ambassador of Tanzania to Washington, USA Dr. Kanza has often been recognized for her achievements in advancing economic development, being named one of the 20 Youngest Powerful Women in Africa, 50 Influential Africans in The World, and Africa’s 50 Most Powerful Women. Ngozi Oyewole, CEO, Noxie Limited, Nigeria Noxie Limited is a world-class office furniture manufacturing company. Oyewole is also a founding member of the Commonwealth Businesswomen’s Network focused on supporting women in leadership. In addition, Oyewole is the co-founder of Strategic Women and Youth institute, an international consortium of professionals generating opportunities for women’s empowerment. Tambra Raye Stevenson, MPH, Founder/CEO, WANDA, Nigeria Prior to joining the foundation, Youssoufou worked with the European Union and the World Bank Group. As CEO of Aliko Dangote Foundation, she leads efforts to improve the health, nutrition, education, and economic empowerment outcomes for the less fortunate in Africa. Dr. Ola Brown, Founder & CEO, Flying Doctors Healthcare Invest Company, Nigeria Dr. Brown is an entrepreneur and investor that runs the Flying Doctors Healthcare Investment Company, focused on early-stage companies in healthtech, fintech, and healthcare infrastructure. The value of companies in their portfolio is close to $450 million. She is currently raising her 4th Venture Capital fund and developing a pipeline of healthcare infrastructure projects worth over $200 million. Ehime Eigbe-Akindele, Founder & CEO, SweetKiwi, USA When Eigbe-Akindele was told she had to give up ice cream, she launched Sweetkiwi as a way to create her own recipes for a healthier, yet still enjoyable, alternative. After finding success in her native Nigeria, SweetKiwi began selling their products to US stores. Senator Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO Merck Foundation, Egypt Appointed to the Senate in 2020, Dr. Kelej is known to be an advocate for women empowerment, having created the campaign Merck More than a Mother to break the stigma around infertile and childless women by providing access to information and healthcare. Her campaign gained her recognition for one of the Most Influential African Women of the Year in 2019, something she’s accomplished three times. Katharina Dalka, Founder, StellarOne, UK & Germany Dalka is the CEO and founder of StellarOne Ltd, a London-based consulting firm providing strategy and investment advisory in tech. With her team, she advises tech investors, financial institutions and corporates in the tech sector in Africa. She is also an executive member of African Women in Fintech and Payment, promoting female expertise on the continent in all subjects related to Fintech. Bronwyn Nielsen, CEO, The Nielsen Network, Chair Graca Machel Trust, Women in Media, former Editor in Chief & Executive Director, CNBC Africa, South Africa With more than 25 years of experience in African broadcasting, Nielsen is one of Africa’s most well-known broadcasters. She began her career with CNBC Africa’s launch and since then, she’s been called upon as a moderator by leading businesses. Today, Nielsen works as CEO of The Nielsen Network, a Digital First Company offering consulting services such as crisis and reputation management, and investor relations. Fleur Tchibota, Communications Director, Africa50 Infrastructure Investment Fund, Morocco A multilingual communications professional, Tchibota’s experience with PR and brand management in financial services, economic development and telecom sectors helps drive change in the socio-economic transformation of developing countries. In Africa50, Tchibota strives to spread the organization’s message of bridging Africa’s infrastructure funding gap through project development, mobilization of public and private sector finance and investment in infrastructure on the continent. Rehmah Kasule, Founder, CEDA International, Strategist and Consultant-Gender, Trade & Peace, Harvard University Advanced Leadership Initiative Senior Fellow 2020, Uganda Kasule founded CEDA International to empower young girls through education and leadership development. She has mentored over 168,000 women across Africa and has been recognized by President Obama for her efforts in building generations of ethical leaders and entrepreneurs. Kasule is also an accomplished author, her most recent book discussing women’s role during COVID-19. Zurina Saban, Group General Counsel & Corporate Secretary, Africa50 Infrastructure Investment Fund, Morocco With over 25 years of private sector development finance experience in Africa and emerging markets, Saban joined Africa50 last December as Group General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. In this role, she is the principal advisor of Africa50 and the Africa50 Board of Directors on all legal and corporate secretariat matters. Prior to joining Africa50, she held several leadership positions at the International Finance Corporation in Washington DC, Egypt, Istanbul, and South Africa and was also the General Counsel of ABSA Corporate and Investment Bank in South Africa. Guillermina Mekuy, Founder, MEIK Magazine and former Minister of Culture, Equatorial Guinea In 2012, Mekuy took office as Minister of the Department of Culture and Tourism, becoming the first woman to hold the position. She has also published three novels, and created Editorial MK, Meik magazine, and makeup brand, Clementyne Cosmetics. Mekuy is also President of Women for New World, an international consulting firm bringing together social and business initiatives and commitments. Dorothy Dottie Liech, Regional Director East Africa, Nordic Global Investment Foundation & Founder, The Premier Plan Agency, Kenya & Denmark A Private Communications Consultant, with a focus on media relations, international relations and conferencing for government leaders and their organizations, Liech works for both Nordic Global Investment Foundation and Caregore Consulting in supporting and advising project owners and developers. Moky Makura, Executive Director, Africa No Filter, Nigeria/South Africa Makura is at the helm of this donor collaborative that supports African storytellers and funds campaigns that catalyze new perspectives about Africa. She is an author, publisher, actress, TV producer and communications expert dedicated to ensuring that Africa doesn’t remain a single story. Clare Akamanzi, CEO, Rwanda Development Board, Rwanda As CEO of the Rwanda Development Board, Akamanzi has played a crucial role in accelerating Rwanda’s economic development by continuously finding ways to foster private sector growth. She was named one of Africa’s Top 50 Powerful Women by Forbes in 2020. Fola Adunola, CEO at Core Capital Group LLC, MD, USA Adunola co-founded one of Washington DC’s premier real estate development companies. She plays a vital role in helping the company restore homes and beautify local neighborhoods in the DC Metro. Her invaluable negotiation skills have helped the company buy, develop and sell over $50 million of real estate since 2010. Sheffy Kolade, CEO, Boxes and Baskets LLC, Nigeria Kolade founded Boxes and Baskets, a promotional and luxury corporate gift company based in Lagos, Nigeria and Houston USA, in 2015. The company offers a hybrid of innovative, locally made and imported products. Sheffy is currently raising $1.6 million to boost its local product offerings and employ over 100 talented locals from under-privileged clusters, producing 5,000 bags, 20,000 t-shirts, 20,000 notebooks and 5,000 boxes monthly which will increase revenue from $2 million in 2021 to about $5.8 million in 2024. Chisom Udeze, Economist & Founder, HerSpace, Mettle Consult, & Diversify, Norway & Nigeria The former is a diverse and inclusive co-working space for women and mothers, and the latter is a non-profit that focuses on professional development and mental health and provides immigrants with the skills and resources they need to thrive. Through her consulting company Mettle Consult, Udeze works with SMEs and Intergovernmental Organizations to drive sustainable projects in West and East Africa. Chioma Chigul Omeruah: MC/ Entertainer/ Actress & Producer, Nigeria Chigul was nominated last year for the Most Popular Media personality in the Net Honors Awards. She’s known for her accents and comedic characters. Yasmine Berrada, Co-founder, Loft Art Gallery, Morocco Inspired by her father’s collection of Moroccan art, Berrada founded the Loft Art Gallery along with her sister Myerim at 25 years old. The Loft Art Gallery promotes the modern and contemporary art scene in Africa, and is driven by a desire to expand international knowledge on the continent. Yvonne Ebbi, Lead consultant & CEO, The Etiquette Place, Nigeria Yvonne’s mission is to change the attitude narrative in corporate Nigeria and improve the perception index in Africa. Yvonne has partnered with over 100 organizations increasing their Social Intelligence Quotient. Her iFINESSE initiative, a CSR, distributes over one million Etiquette handbooks to public schools in Nigeria. Yvonne’s #SheSpark initiative is a virtual community of professional women who are becoming global brands and influencers. Isoken Nwabunka, Executive Director of Administaton, The Grooming Center, Nigeria At the Grooming Center for Empowering People, our mission is to empower the economically active poor communities by taking a range of tailor-made microfinance services to their doorstep using globally tested best-practice methodologies. Click here to learn more about the work of Global Group Media. (https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/33-women-amplifying-the-voices-of-african-leadership/3010757/)

Seafood Industry Braces for Losses of Jobs, Fish Due to Sanctions on Russia

The worldwide seafood industry is steeling itself for price hikes, supply disruptions and potential job losses as new rounds of economic sanctions on Russia make key species such as cod and crab harder to come by. The latest round of U.S. attempts to punish Russia for the invasion of Ukraine includes bans on imports of seafood, alcohol and diamonds. The U.S. is also stripping most favored nation status from Russia. Nations around the world are taking similar steps. Russia is one of the largest producers of seafood in the world, and was the fifth-largest producer of wild-caught fish, according to a 2020 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Russia is not one of the biggest exporters of seafood to the U.S., but it’s a world leader in exports of cod. It’s also a major supplier of crabs and Alaska pollock, widely used in fast-food sandwiches and processed products like fish sticks. The impact is likely to be felt globally, as well as in places with working waterfronts. One of those is Maine, where more than $50 million in seafood products from Russia passed through Portland in 2021, according to federal statistics. If you’re getting cod from Russia, it’s going to be a problem, said Glen Libby, an owner of Port Clyde Fresh Catch, a seafood market in Tenants Harbor, Maine. That’s quite a mess. We’ll see how it turns out. Russia exported more than 28 million pounds of cod to the U.S. from Jan. 1, 2020, to Jan. 31, 2022, according to census data. The European Union and United Kingdom are both deeply dependent on Russian seafood. And prices of seafood are already spiking in Japan, a major seafood consumer that is limiting its trade with Russia. In the U.K., where fish and chips are a cultural marker, shop owners and consumers alike are bracing for price surges. British fish and chip shops were already facing a squeeze because of soaring energy costs and rising food prices. Andrew Crook, head of the National Federation of Fish Friers, said earlier this month that even before the war he expected a third of Britain’s fish and chip shops to go out of business. If fish prices shoot up even higher, we are in real dire straits, he said. In mid-March, the U.K. slapped a 35 tariff hike on Russian whitefish, including chip-shop staples cod and haddock. We’re a massive part of U.K. culture and it would be a shame to see that go, he told broadcaster ITV. U.S. consumers are most likely to notice the impact of sanctions via price and availability of fish, said Kanae Tokunaga, who runs the Coastal and Marine Economics Lab at Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland. Because seafood is a global commodity, even if they are not harvested in Russia, you will notice the price hike, Tokunaga said. In the U.S., the dependence on foreign cod stems from the loss of its own once-robust Atlantic cod fishery that cratered in the face of overfishing and environmental changes. U.S. fishermen, based mostly in New England, brought more than 100 million pounds of cod to the docks per year in the early 1980s, but the 2020 catch was less than 2 million pounds. Regulators have tried to save the fishery with management measures such as very low fishing quotas, and many fishermen targeting other East Coast groundfish species such as haddock and flounder now avoid cod altogether. Seafood processors in Massachusetts are concerned about job losses due to the loss of Russian products, Democratic U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, who does support sanctions on Russia, said. I have heard from seafood processors in my home state with concerns about potential sudden effects of a new, immediate ban on imports on their workforce, including hundreds of union workers in the seafood processing industry, he said on the Senate floor in February. For U.S. producers of seafood staples such as fish and chips, the lack of Russian cod could mean pivoting to other foreign sources, said Walt Golet, a research assistant professor at the University of Maine’s School of Marine Sciences. We might be able to bring in more from Norway, a little more from Canadian fisheries, Golet said. It really is driven by the price of those imports. As an alternative, producers and consumers could try underutilized fish species caught domestically, such as Atlantic pollock and redfish, said Ben Martens, executive director of Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association. Maybe this is a time to use haddock or hake or maybe monkfish, something different, Martens said. If it’s going to disrupt supply chains it does present an opportunity for other species to fill that void. Associated Press writer Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report. (https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/national-international/seafood-industry-braces-losses-of-jobs-fish-due-to-sanctions/2928587/)

Ukrainians Already in US Mobilize to Prepare for Up to 100,000 Inbound Refugees

As the United States prepares to accept up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees following Russia’s invasion of their country, existing communities in cities like Sacramento and Seattle are already mobilizing to provide food, shelter and support to those fleeing the war. The federal government hasn’t said when the formal resettlement process will begin, but Ukrainian groups in the U.S. are already providing support to people entering the country through other channels, including on visas that will eventually expire or by flying to Mexico and crossing over the border. No refugee is waiting for you to be ready for them, said Eduard Kislyanka, senior pastor at the House of Bread church near Sacramento, which has been sending teams of people to Poland and preparing dozens of its member families to house people arriving in California. Since the war began in late February more than 4 million people have fled Ukraine, the U.N. estimates, and millions more have been displaced within the country. President Joe Biden said last week that the U.S. would admit up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees and provide $1 billion in humanitarian assistance to countries affected by the exodus. The federal government has yet to provide a timeline for refugee resettlement often a lengthy process or details on where refugees will be resettled. It’s unlikely the United States will see a massive influx of Ukrainians on charter and military flights like happened with Afghan refugees last year. More Ukrainian Refugees Coverage politics Mar 14 Portraits of War: See How the Attack on Ukraine Has Affected Its People Germany Mar 28 Holocaust Survivors Flee From Ukraine to Germany, Bringing Horrible Feeling of D j Vu Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, said the White House commitment of accepting up to 100,000 Ukrainians does not come with a minimum. Aside from the refugee resettlement program, their main avenues will be seeking humanitarian parole and appearing at the border with Mexico, she said. Many who reach the United States will likely go to cities that already have strong Ukrainian communities. The Sacramento region is home to the highest concentration of Ukrainian immigrants in the country, with about 18,000 people, according to census data analyzed by the Migration Policy Institute. The Seattle, Chicago and New York City areas are also hubs. Word is spreading about the resources available in Sacramento, where churches like House of Bread are connecting Ukrainians who have already arrived with host families who can offer shelter and help access government resources and transportation. Kislyanka called the church’s actions a stop gap measure designed to help as people await more clarity about the formal government resettlement process. Most of these people do not have any relations, like they don’t know anybody here, said Kislyanka, who came to the U.S. as a child in the early 1990s. Having somebody who can help them navigate the cultural shock and navigate the system it just makes things a lot easier and smoother. Sacramento has been a destination for Ukrainians since the late 1980s and early 1990s when many of those arriving were Christians taking advantage of a U.S. law offering entrance to anyone escaping religious persecution in the former Soviet Union. Another wave of refugees began arriving after Russia’s initial invasion of Ukraine in 2014. Of the 8,000 Ukrainians resettled by the organization World Relief since then, 3,000 have come to Sacramento, said Vanassa Hamra, the group’s community engagement manager in Sacramento. Beyond the dozens of Slavic churches in the Sacramento region, there are schools that serve mainly Ukrainian and Russian students. Eastern European grocery stores and restaurants offer favorite foods like borscht, a type of beetroot soup, and varenyky, a boiled dumpling. Businesses started by Ukrainians try to hire others from their country. All of that makes it easy for younger people to maintain a sense of connection to their heritage and for older immigrants to adapt without having to become fluent in a new language and culture. It’s very easy when you come here. Every door, it’s open for you, said Oleksandra Datsenko, who came to the U.S. six years ago and works as a waitress at Firebird Russian Restaurant, which serves Eastern European fare in a Sacramento suburb. Valeriy Goloborodko, who immigrated to Southern California in 2006, wanted to return to Ukraine until he settled with his wife in the Seattle area. There, he found a thriving Ukrainian community and went on to become the country’s honorary consul in Seattle in 2015, helping organize an annual festival where as many as 16,000 people a day would show up to feast on traditional food, listen to Ukrainian musicians and wear traditionally embroidered clothing. The Ukrainian community in Washington helped me to feel like I was at home and this is my home now, Goloborodko said. We feel like this is a Little Ukraine. Since the invasion, Goloborodko and others in the Washington state Ukrainian community have lobbied hard for support from state officials. Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee has vowed that Washington will welcome Ukrainians fleeing the violence. The Legislature has set aside nearly $20 million to help pay anticipated costs of housing, job training, health care and legal aid for Ukrainian refugees. The Port of Seattle has promised to help welcome the refugees at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, where they can begin to be connected with services. In Sacramento, meanwhile, the state’s housing crisis could prove challenging as resettlement and community organizations look for lodging for new arrivals. Like much of California, the region is facing a housing crunch with limited supply and rising rents. People are coming here; we can help them; we can provide something. But it’s going to get swamped so quick, said Kislyanka, the head pastor at House of Bread. The International Rescue Committee’s Sacramento branch has an affiliated immigrant welcome center that’s already assisting people who entered the country illegally, said Lisa Welze, director of IRC Sacramento. Many are nervous to engage with resettlement agencies but in need of resources particularly housing as well as help navigating the immigration system to see if they can find a legal path to stay. As for when the more formal resettlement process will begin, we’ve been told we just need to wait, Welze said. Click here for complete coverage of the crisis in Ukraine. Associated Press journalist Gene Johnson in Seattle contributed. (https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/national-international/ukrainians-already-in-us-mobilize-prepare-up-to-100000-inbound-refugees/2928590/)

Calling Putin’s Bluff: Local Experts Explain Why EU Should Accept Ukraine Candidacy

In order to call Putin’s bluff, local experts say the European Union should fast-track Ukraine’s candidacy as the country’s president offers up neutrality. Diplomats from Ukraine and Russia have recently been holding peace talks in Turkey. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said his country is prepared to discuss adopting a neutral status as part of a peace deal with Russia, but has left E.U. candidacy and membership on the table. Harvard scholar Oleh Kotsyuba and Northeastern University professors Mai’a Cross and Pablo Calderon explained Wednesday how Zelenskyy can call Russian President Vladimir Putin’s bluff by joining the E.U. on NBC10 Boston’s weekly series, Russia-Ukraine Q&A. Sign up for our Breaking newsletter to get the most urgent news stories in your inbox. More from this series Local experts discuss the latest developments around the Russia-Ukraine war live on Facebook every Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. russia-ukraine q&a Mar 24 Putin Will ‘Likely’ Use Chemical Weapons, Local Experts Say russia-ukraine q&a Mar 18 Will China Help Russia? Local Experts Weigh in While Zelenskyy has said Ukraine is prepared to offer neutrality to end the month-old war with Russia, which would mean giving up on joining NATO, he has left E.U. candidacy and membership on the table. In fact, he has submitted an application to the E.U. to grant Ukraine immediate membership. The two are not mutually exclusive, Cross explained. Six E.U. countries aren’t members of NATO: Austria, Cyprus, the Irish Republic, Malta, Finland and Sweden. One thing that’s interesting about E.U. candidacy and membership is there are neutral countries within the E.U., Cross said. So if Zelenskyy wants to continue with this strategy of sort of dangling neutrality as a way to call Putin’s bluff, neutrality and E.U. membership are actually compatible. The offer of neutrality is a near 180-degree flip from Zelenskyy’s previous stance, which sought to maintain Ukrainian sovereignty and the country’s right to determine its own alliances. Ukraine and Russia are still negotiating what neutrality would mean for the country, but Calderon said it would come in exchange for security guarantees. I do think this puts the ball firmly in Vladimir Putin’s court, Calderon said. And he has to now react to these responses and see if this going to be enough. Since Putin has long said he won’t accept the expansion of NATO eastward to include Ukraine, the shift puts the Russian president on the spot. But experts aren’t convinced that the offer will lead to meaningful change. The real motivation for Putin is not so much Ukraine’s joining NATO, Kostyuba said. It’s really kind of the broader integration with the West, it’s democratization and the danger that such a democratic country on Russia’s direct border will represent to Putin’s personal regime of power. Additionally, Kotsyuba noted that both countries are trying to buy time with these negotiations in the middle of a war that is draining their resources. Each side likely isn’t taking promises from the opposition seriously. PRIME MINISTERS OF POLAND PRIME MINISTERS OF POLAND AND CHECK REPUBLIC AND SLOVENIA ARE MEETING IN UKRAINE TODAY TO SHOW SOLIDARITY. TALKS BETWEEN UKRAINE AND RUSSIA WILL CONTINUE TONIGHT. WILL CONTINUE TONIGHT. REPORTS THAT PRESIDENT BIDEN IS STRONGLY TRAVELING TO EUROPE, POSSIBLY BRUSSELS, IN THE NEXT FEW WEEKS. NEW SATELLITE IMAGES FROM A TOWN NORTHWEST OF KYIV APPEAR TO SHOW DAMAGED BUILDINGS AND HOMES WITH SEVERAL UP IN FLAMES AS ARTILLERY STRIKES COTINUE. ARTILLERY STRIKES COTINUE. PRESIDENT ZELENSKYY IS EXPECTED TO SPEAK TO CONGRESS TOMORROW CLEARLY HAS MORE OF A MOCHESS IN MIND HERE.”,”video_id”:”2012927043916_266″,”video_length”:”72673″,”video_provider”:”mpx”,”short_video_excerpt”:””,”mpx_download_pid_mobile_low”:”Ibfzp9MHiUNH”,”pid_streaming_web_mobile_low”:””,”mpx_download_pid_mobile_standard”:”sUN9yDDK3W97″,”pid_streaming_mobile_standard”:”V0zF_UHGNgnF”,”alleypack_schedule_unpublish”:””,”feed_remote_id”:”mpx_2012927043916″,”feed_thumbnail_url”:”” ” data-livestream=”false” data-title=”Peace Talks Continue Tuesday as Russian Attacks Intensify” data-vidcid=”1:5:2669311″ data-vidurl=”https://www.nbcboston.com/on-air/as-seen-on/peace-talks-continue-tuesday-as-russian-attacks-intensify/2669311/” data-islead=”false” data-catnames=” “1813”:”On Air”,”1814″:”As Seen On” ” data-tagnames=” “541481”:”peace talks”,”3727″:”Russia”,”542511″:”Russia-Ukraine War”,”413575″:”Volodymyr Zelenskyy” ” data-customdata=” “ContentPartner”:”None”,”Source”:”WEBFM”,”SyndicationAllowed”:”true”,”mSNVideoCategories”:”MSN Video v4 Connector-most watched news”,”mSNVideoContentSupplierID”:”NBC_Local”,”mSNVideoCountry”:”us”,”subtitle”:”nosubtitle”,”uploadedByTeam”:”1″,”youtubeChannel”:”None” ” data-autoplay=”false” data-cplay=”true” Meanwhile, Putin all but refuses to recognize that the European Union exists. Cross pointed to Putin’s refusal to receive a response from the E.U. to his letter of intent in the lead up to the war, demanding individual replies from every country. Putin, he doesn’t ever like to acknowledge the strength of the E.U. as an actor. He always treats E.U. member states as individual countries, Cross said. The European Union is a political and economic collective rather than a military alliance like NATO. In that regard, NATO is more basic in terms of its focus on security and defense, Cross explained, whereas the E.U. is extremely comprehensive. When I think about what is really ultimately a threat to Putin, it is what the E.U. represents. It’s integration, it’s policy sharing and convergence on so many levels that you practically can’t find a policy area that isn’t integrated within Europe. It’s the attraction of the West and this free market economy and democracy, Cross said. So the E.U. really represents so much more of what is a threat to Putin’s power in Russia than NATO does. Putin’s refusal to acknowledge the E.U. puts him in a precarious position if he were to take issue with Ukraine’s membership. If he has to kind of step up and say, ‘No, we’re also against E.U. membership, we see this as threatening,’ that’s a blatant acknowledgement of the strength of the E.U., which he continually tries to avoid, Cross said. So it could be quite a smart strategy on multiple levels. Zelenskyy has been pleading with Western leaders to accept Ukraine for years, Cross explained, noting that the country was waving E.U. flags in 2014. Cross remains hopeful, however, that the E.U. will invite Ukraine to be a formal candidate for membership. The process is usually a lengthy one, but given the Russian invasion, Cross said an expedited procedure would be appropriate. They see their future with the West and yet they’re not given some kind of public prospect for membership, Cross said. So I think this is a no brainer, in many respects. (https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/calling-putins-bluff-local-experts-explain-why-eu-should-accept-ukraine-candidacy/2682650/)

Secret Intelligence Has Unusually Public Role in Ukraine War

The war in Ukraine is the conflict where spies came in from the cold and took center stage. Since Russia invaded its neighbor in late February, intelligence agencies in the U.S. and Britain have been remarkably willing to go public with their secret intelligence assessments of what is happening on the battlefield and inside the Kremlin. The U.S. this week declassified intelligence findings claiming Russian President Vladimir Putin is being misinformed about his military’s poor performance in Ukraine by advisers scared to tell him the truth. On Thursday a British spy chief said demoralized Russian troops were refusing to carry out orders and sabotaging their own equipment. Jeremy Fleming, who heads Britain’s electronic intelligence agency GCHQ, made the comments in a public speech where he said the pace and scale at which secret intelligence is being released really is unprecedented. NATO Alliance Positions Forces on Europe’s Eastern Flank Thousands of troops have been deployed across eastern Europe to protect allies near Russia and Ukraine. The U.S. has sent around 4,700 service members to Poland, 1,000 to Romania and over 7,000 to Germany with discussions of possibly sending more. According to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, it is the first time the NATO Response Force has been activated. Source: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization Credit: Andrew Williams/NBC Mark Galeotti, a Russia expert at University College London, agreed that the very public intelligence campaign reflects the fact that we now live in a different age, politically and internationally. And this is a different kind of war. Officials say the stream of declassified intelligence which includes regular briefings to journalists in Washington and London and daily Twitter updates from Britain’s defense ministry has several aims. Partly it’s to let Putin know he is being watched, and to make him question what he’s being told. It’s also designed to embolden the Russian military to tell Putin the truth, and to convey to the Russian public that they have been lied to about the war. The U.S. and Britain also have released intelligence assessments in a bid to deter Russian actions. That was the case with recent warnings Russia might be preparing to use chemical weapons in Ukraine. It’s all part of a closely coordinated trans-Atlantic strategy that has been in the works for months. Biden administration officials say they decided to aggressively share intelligence and coordinate messaging with key allies, including Britain, as U.S. concerns about Russian troop movements in autumn 2021 put the intelligence community on high alert. In early November, President Joe Biden dispatched CIA director William Burns to Moscow to warn that the U.S. was fully aware of Russian troop movements. The White House has typically been tight-lipped about the director’s travels, but the Biden administration calculated that in this situation they needed to advertise the visit far and wide. The U.S. Embassy in Moscow announced that Burns had met with top Kremlin officials shortly after his trip was over. Soon after Burns’ Moscow mission, U.S. officials decided they needed to accelerate intelligence sharing. Russia-Ukraine War 12 hours ago Ukraine Accuses Russia of Massacre, City Strewn With Bodies business Apr 2 A Ukrainian Techie Combined ‘Code and People’ to Raise $3.5 Million So Far for Families Back Home Officials shared sensitive intelligence with other members of the Five Eyes alliance Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand and also with Ukraine. Director of national intelligence Avril Haines was dispatched to Brussels to brief NATO members on intelligence underlying growing American concerns that Russia seemed intent on invasion, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue. Some allies and analysts were skeptical, with memories lingering of past intelligence failings, like the false claim Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction that was used to justify the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Late last year, France and Germany led a group of European countries that appeared to be seeing similar military intelligence as the U.S. and Britain, but were less convinced that an invasion of Ukraine was imminent. At NATO, Germany initially blocked the use of a system for helping Ukraine to acquire certain military equipment. France and Germany also blocked NATO from launching an early crisis planning system in response to the buildup, before relenting in December. This week, French media reported that the head of France’s military intelligence agency, which failed to anticipate the Russian invasion, has been removed from his post. Eric Vidaud’s departure comes amid soul-searching among France’s leadership about why it was taken by surprise by the war which was particularly embarrassing for President Emmanuel Macron, who speaks regularly with Putin. Some see Vidaud as a scapegoat, and note that his removal comes just ahead of this month’s French presidential election. In January, as Russia amassed troops near Ukraine’s border, Britain’s Foreign Office issued a statement alleging that Putin wanted to install a pro-Moscow regime in Ukraine. The U.K. said it was making the intelligence assessment public because of the exceptional circumstances. Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24 largely silenced the doubters, and drew a unified response from NATO. The release of U.S. and British intelligence is partly designed to shore up that Western unity, officials and analysts say. Both Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson doubt Putin is serious about negotiating an end to the war and want to keep up the West’s military and moral support of Ukraine. The Breakdown: U.S. Security Aid for Ukraine The U.S. has commited over $2 billion to Ukraine in security assistance since the start of the Biden Administration $1 bilion of it in March alone. Security assistance takes the form of equipment from the Department of Defense and is meant to help Ukrainians defend their country against Russia. Note: Not all pledged government funding has been allocated yet Source: The White House Credit: Andrew Williams/NBC The impact inside Russia is hard to measure. The U.S. official who spoke to the AP said the White House hopes divulging intelligence that Putin is misinformed could help prod the Russian leader to reconsider his options in Ukraine. But the publicity could also risk further isolating Putin or make him double down on his aim of restoring Russian prestige lost since the fall of the Soviet Union. The official said Biden is in part shaped by a belief that Putin is going to do what Putin is going to do, regardless of international efforts to deter him. Galeotti said Western intelligence agencies likely don’t know how much impact their efforts will have on Putin. But there’s no harm in giving it a try, he said. Because when it comes down to it, in this kind of intensely personalistic system, if one line, or one particular notion, happens to get through and lodge itself in Putin’s brain, then that’s a really powerful result. ___ Madhani reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Ben Fox and Nomaan Merchant in Washington, Lorne Cook in Brussels and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this story. (https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/national-international/secret-intelligence-has-unusually-public-role-in-ukraine-war/2930850/)

Russia Says It Will Scale Back Near Kyiv as Talks Progress

Russia announced Tuesday it will significantly scale back military operations near Ukraine’s capital and a northern city, as the outlines of a possible deal to end the grinding war came into view at the latest round of talks. Ukraine’s delegation at the conference, held in Istanbul, laid out a framework under which the country would declare itself neutral and its security would be guaranteed by an array of other nations. Moscow’s public reaction was positive, and the negotiations are expected to resume on Wednesday, five weeks into what has devolved into a bloody war of attrition, with thousands dead and almost 4 million Ukrainians fleeing the country. Amid the talks, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said Moscow has decided to fundamentally cut back military activity in the direction of Kyiv and Chernihiv to increase mutual trust and create conditions for further negotiations. He did not immediately spell out what that would mean in practical terms. The announcement was met with skepticism from the U.S. and others. While Moscow portrayed it as a goodwill gesture, its ground troops have become bogged down and taken heavy losses in their bid to seize Kyiv and other cities. Last week and again on Tuesday, the Kremlin seemed to lower its war aims, saying its main goal now is gaining control of the mostly Russian-speaking Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. U.S. President Joe Biden, asked whether the Russian announcement was a sign of progress in the talks or an attempt by Moscow to buy time to continue its assault, said: We’ll see. I don’t read anything into it until I see what their actions are. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he had not seen anything indicating talks were progressing in a constructive way, and he suggested Russian indications of a pullback could be an attempt by Moscow to deceive people and deflect attention. There is what Russia says and there is what Russia does, and we’re focused on the latter, Blinken said in Morocco. And what Russia is doing is the continued brutalization of Ukraine. Western officials say Moscow is reinforcing troops in the Donbas in an attempt to encircle Ukraine’s best-trained and best-equipped forces, which are concentrated in the east. And in the country’s south, civilians trapped in the ruins of Mariupol and other bombarded and shattered cities continue to suffer. Even as negotiators gathered, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces blasted a gaping hole in a nine-story government administration building in a strike on the southern port city of Mykolaiv, killing at least 12 people, emergency authorities said. The search for more bodies in the rubble continued. It’s terrible. They waited for people to go to work before striking the building, said regional governor Vitaliy Kim. I overslept. I’m lucky. Ukraine’s military said it has noted withdrawals of some Russian forces around Kyiv and Chernihiv. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told CNN the U.S. hasn’t seen anything to corroborate a significant pullback from the capital, but what we have seen over the last couple of days is they have stopped trying to advance on Kyiv. Rob Lee, a military expert at the U.S.-based Foreign Policy Research Institute, tweeted of the Russian announcement: This sounds like more of an acknowledgment of the situation around Kyiv where Russia’s advance has been stalled for weeks and Ukrainian forces have had recent successes. Russia doesn’t have the forces to encircle the city. The meeting in Istanbul was the first time negotiators from Russia and Ukraine talked face-to-face in two weeks. Earlier talks were held in person in Belarus or by video. Among other things, the Kremlin has demanded all along that Ukraine drop any hope of joining NATO. Ukraine’s delegation offered a detailed framework for a peace deal under which the nation would remain neutral but its security would be guaranteed by a group of third countries, including the U.S., Britain, France, Turkey, China and Poland, in an arrangement similar to NATO’s an attack on one is an attack on all principle. Ukraine said it would also be willing to hold talks over a 15-year period on the future of the Crimean Peninsula, seized by Russia in 2014. Vladimir Medinskiy, the head of the Russian delegation, said on Russian TV that the Ukrainian proposals are a step to meet us halfway, a clearly positive fact. He cautioned that the parties are still far from reaching an agreement, but said: We know now how to move further toward compromise. We aren’t just marking time in talks. Fomin likewise suggested there had been progress, saying negotiations on preparing an agreement on Ukraine’s neutrality and non-nuclear status, as well as on giving Ukraine security guarantees, are turning to practical matters. In other developments: In what appeared to be a coordinated action to tackle Russian espionage, the Netherlands, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Ireland and North Macedonia expelled scores of Russian diplomats. The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency arrived in Ukraineto try to ensure the safety of the country’s nuclear facilities. Russian forces have taken control of the decommissioned Chernobyl plant, site in 1986 of the world’s worst nuclear accident, and of the active Zaporizhzhia plant, where a building was damaged in fighting. Russia has destroyed more than 60 religious buildings across the country in just over a month of war, with most of the damage concentrated near Kyiv and in the east, Ukraine’s military said. In the room at the Istanbul talks was Roman Abramovich, a longtime Putin ally who has been sanctioned by Britain and the European Union. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Chelsea soccer team owner has been serving as an unofficial mediator approved by both countries. But mystery about his role has been deepened by news reports that he may have been poisoned during an earlier round of talks. Over the past several days, Ukrainian forces have mounted counterattacks and reclaimed ground on the outskirts of Kyiv and other areas. Ukrainian soldiers gathered in a trench for photos with Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, who said that Ukraine had retaken control of a vast majority of Irpin, a key suburb northwest of the capital that has seen heavy fighting. We defend our motherland because we have very high morale, said Syrskyi, the top military commander in charge of the defense of Kyiv. And because we want to win. Ukrainian forces also took back Trostyanets, south of Sumy in the northeast, after weeks of occupation that left a landscape of Russian bodies, burned and twisted tanks and charred buildings. Putin’s ground forces have been thwarted not just by stronger-than-expected Ukrainian resistance, but by what Western officials say are Russian tactical missteps, poor morale, shortages of food, fuel and cold weather gear, and other problems. Repeating what the military said last week, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Tuesday that liberating Donbas is now Moscow’s chief objective. While that presents a possible face-saving exit strategy for Putin, it has also raised Ukrainian fears the Kremlin aims to split the country and force it to surrender a swath of its territory. ___ Karmanau reported from Lviv, Ukraine. Associated Press journalists around the world contributed to this report. ___ Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine (https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/national-international/new-round-russia-ukraine-talks-aims-stop-fighting/2926630/)

Lithuania Cuts Off Russian Gas Imports, Urges EU to Do Same

Lithuania says it has cut itself off entirely of gas imports from Russia, apparently becoming the first of the European Union’s 27 nations using Russian gas to break its energy dependence upon Moscow. Seeking full energy independence from Russian gas, in response to Russia’s energy blackmail in Europe and the war in Ukraine, Lithuania has completely abandoned Russian gas, Lithuania’s energy ministry said in a statement late Saturday, adding that the measure took effect in the beginning of April. Lithuania managed to reduce imports of Russian gas to zero on Saturday, a move seen a milestone in achieving energy independence in the former Soviet republic of 2.8 million, the ministry said. We are the first EU country among Gazprom’s supply countries to gain independence from Russian gas supplies, and this is the result of a multi-year coherent energy policy and timely infrastructure decisions, Minister of Energy Dainius Kreivys said. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda posted an upbeat tweet on his account and urged other European nations to do the same. From this month on no more Russian gas in Lithuania. Years ago, my country made decisions that today allow us with no pain to break energy ties with the aggressor. If we can do it, the rest of Europe can do it too. Nauseda tweeted. business 13 hours ago Ukraine Claims 410 Bodies Found in Recaptured Towns; Zelenskyy Accuses Russia of Genocide. Follow Our Live Updates Russia-Ukraine War 6 hours ago Pope Prays for End to’sacrilegious’ War, Kindness to Refugees In 2015, nearly 100 of Lithuania’s gas supplies derived from imports of Russian gas but the situation has changed drastically over the past years after the country built an off-shore LNG import terminal, launched in 2014, in the port city of Klaipeda. The energy ministry said from now on all gas for Lithuania’s domestic consumption would be imported via Klaipeda’s LNG terminal. Last year, some 26 of Lithuania’s gas supplies derived from deliveries from a Russian gas pipeline while 62 came via Klaipeda’s LNG terminal and the remaining 12 were imported from a gas storage in neighboring Latvia. Baltic neighbors Latvia and Estonia are also heavily dependent on Russian gas but the operator of Latvia’s natural gas storage said none of the three Baltic states were importing Russian gas as of April 2. Uldis Bariss, the CEO of Conexus Baltic Grid, told Latvian media on Saturday that the Baltic gas market was currently being served by gas reserves stored underground in Latvia. Last month, Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte said Klaipeda’s LNG terminal wouldn’t have enough capacity to provide gas for all the three Baltic countries. As a solution, Estonia’s government has proposed building a LNG terminal jointly with Latvia and Nordic neighbor Finland in the Estonian port town of Paldiski, which is not far from the capital, Tallinn. ___ Jari Tanner in Helsinki, Finland contributed to this report (https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/national-international/lithuania-cuts-off-russian-gas-imports-urges-eu-to-do-same/2930966/)

AMD, Intel, Microsoft halt sales to Russia

Both AMD and Intel on Thursday said that the two companies had halted sales of their products to Russia and Belarus, an explicit commitment from the chip industry in taking action against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Microsoft, too, also said it would halt new sales of Microsoft products, too. On Thursday morning, AMD said it was halting all chip shipments. By Thursday afternoon, Intel had joined AMD with a similar statement. Microsoft added its own statement on Friday morning. According to AMD, the chip ban extends to Belarus, which Russia has used as a staging ground for its attacking forces. Based on sanctions placed on Russia by the United States and other nations, at this time AMD is suspending its sales and distribution of our products into Russia and Belarus, an AMD representative said in an email. It is all AMD products and products we power in Russia and Belarus. Intel, too, said it had suspended shipments. Intel condemns the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and we have suspended all shipments to customers in both Russia and Belarus, Intel said in a statement on its Web site. Our thoughts are with everyone who has been impacted by this war, including the people of Ukraine and the surrounding countries and all those around the world with family, friends and loved ones in the region. Intel said that it had begun to raise funds for relief efforts, too. We are working to support all of our employees through this difficult situation, especially those with close ties to this region, Intel added. We have launched an employee donation and matching campaign through the Intel Foundation that has already raised over $1.2 million for relief efforts, and we are proud of the work our teams in surrounding areas including Poland, Germany and Romania are doing to aid refugees. We will continue to stand with the people of Ukraine and the global community in calling for an immediate end to this war and a swift return to peace. For its part, Microsoft said that it would halt sales of all new Microsoft products. We are announcing today that we will suspend all new sales of Microsoft products and services in Russia, Microsoft president and vice chair Brad Smith wrote. In addition, we are coordinating closely and working in lockstep with the governments of the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom, and we are stopping many aspects of our business in Russia in compliance with governmental sanctions decisions. It wasn’t clear whether Microsoft would leave in place ongoing subscription services. Microsoft also said that it continues to protect Ukrainian web sites from Russian attacks. Our single most impactful area of work almost certainly is the protection of Ukraine’s cybersecurity, Smith added. We continue to work proactively to help cybersecurity officials in Ukraine defend against Russian attacks, including most recently a cyberattack against a major Ukrainian broadcaster. Finally, clear statements in favor of Ukraine On Feb. 24, the U.S. Department of Commerce implemented a new Commerce Control List-based license requirement for Russia. This requirement restricts exports to the country for key industries including microelectronics, avionics, navigation equipment, and more. Essentially, the new export rules blacklist Russia and businesses operating there from legally buying the restricted goods. To date, however, the chip industry has been somewhat vague in how it has reacted to the ongoing Ukraine conflict. On Feb. 26, for example, an Intel representative merely said that Intel complies with all applicable export regulations and sanctions in the countries in which it operates, including the new sanctions issued by OFAC and the regulations issued by BIS. At the time, the representative declined to comment further when asked if that indicated a specific ban on sales to Russia. A source close to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s largest and most important fab, told the Washington Post that the foundry has suspended all sales to Russia and to third parties that supply products to Russia. On the record, however, a TSMC representative told the paper that it would simply comply with the new export rules. Compared to the overall market, however, chip sales to Russia represent a small fraction of total sales. On Feb. 24, the Semiconductor Industry Association released a statement that characterized Russia as not a significant direct consumer of semiconductors. While the impact of the new rules to Russia could be significant, Russia is not a significant direct consumer of semiconductors, accounting for less than 0.1 of global chip purchases, according to the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics organization, the SIA said in a statement. The broader Russian ICT market totaled only about $50.3 billion out of the $4.47 trillion global market, according to 2021 IDC data. In addition, the semiconductor industry has a diverse set of suppliers of key materials and gases, so we do not believe there are immediate supply disruption risks related to Russia and Ukraine, the SIA added. The AMD representative echoed what the SIA said, specifically regarding its own supply chain. Currently, we do not believe that the conflict will impact our ability to provide products, support, and services to our partners and customers, the AMD representative said in his email. Representatives for Nvidia did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday. This story was updated at 9:17 AM on Friday, March 4 with a statement from Microsoft. (https://www.pcworld.com/article/619357/amd-officially-halts-chip-sales-to-russia.html)

Biden Lashes at Putin, Calls for Western Resolve for Freedom

President Joe Biden delivered a forceful and highly personal condemnation of Russia’s Vladimir Putin on Saturday, summoning a call for liberal democracy and a durable resolve among Western nations in the face of a brutal autocrat. As he capped a four-day trip to Europe, a blend of emotive scenes with refugees and standing among other world leaders in grand settings, Biden said of Putin: For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power. It was a dramatic escalation in rhetoric Biden had earlier called Putin a butcher that the White House found itself quickly walking back. Before Biden could even board Air Force One to begin the flight back to Washington, aides were clarifying that he wasn’t calling for an immediate change in government in Moscow. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov quickly denounced Biden, saying it’s not up to the president of the U.S. and not up to the Americans to decide who will remain in power in Russia. While Biden’s blunt language grabbed headlines, in other pieces of his roughly 30-minute speech before Warsaw’s iconic Royal Castle he urged Western allies to brace for what will be a turbulent road ahead in a new battle for freedom. He also pointedly warned Putin against invading even an inch of territory of a NATO nation. The address was a heavy bookend to a European visit in which Biden met with NATO and other Western leaders, visited the front lines of the growing refugee crisis and even held a young Ukrainian girl in his arms as he sought to spotlight some of the vast tentacles of the conflict that will likely define his presidency. We must remain unified today and tomorrow and the day after, and for the years and decades to come. It will not be easy, Biden said as Russia continued to pound several Ukrainian cities. There will be costs, but the price we have to pay, because the darkness that drives autocracy is ultimately no match for the flame of liberty that lights the souls of free people everywhere. Biden also made the case that multilateral institutions like NATO are more important than ever if the West and its allies are going to successfully push back against autocrats like Putin. During his campaign for president, Biden talked often about the battle for primacy between democracies and autocracies. In those moments, his words seemed like an abstraction. Now, they have an urgent resonance. Europe finds itself ensconced in a crisis that has virtually all of Europe revisiting defense spending, energy policy and more, and so does the U.S. Charles Kupchan, who served as senior director for European affairs on the White House National Security Council during the Obama administration, called the invasion a game-changer that left Atlantic democracies with no choice but to bolster their posture against Russia. But the path ahead for Biden and the West will only grow more complicated, Kupchan said. The challenges Biden’s presidency faces have just grown in magnitude, said Kupchan, now a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He now needs to lead the West’s efforts to protect the West from the pressing external threat posed by Russia. And he needs to continue strengthening the West from within by countering the illiberal populism that still poses internal threats to democratic societies on both sides of the Atlantic. In one of the most poignant moments of his trip, Biden on Saturday bent down and picked up a young girl, a Ukrainian refugee in a pink winter coat, and spoke of how she reminded him of his own granddaughters. I don’t speak Ukrainian, but tell her I want to take her home, Biden asked a translator to tell the smiling child. Hours later, Biden was in front of a crowd of a 1,000 including recent Ukrainian refugees at the Royal Castle, a Warsaw landmark that dates back more than 400 years and was badly damaged in World War II. He made clear that the West would need to steel itself for what will be a long and difficult battle. We must commit now, to be this fight for the long haul, Biden said. The Biden administration, which has been selective about putting too great of importance on any single policy speech, sought to elevate what White House officials billed as a major address. Biden spoke with grand palace behind him to an invited audience one bigger than just about any he’s spoken to during his presidency. He singled out Lech Walesa, the Polish labor leader who led the push for freedom in his country and was eventually elected its president, and connected the moment to the former Soviet Union’s history of brutal oppression, including the post-World War II military operations to stamp out pro-democracy movements in Hungary, Poland and what was then Czechoslovakia. And he urged Europe to heed the words of Pope John Paul II, the first pontiff from Poland: Be not afraid. Biden’s trip has reaffirmed the importance of European alliances, which atrophied under former President Donald Trump. He’s worked with his counterparts to marshal an array of punishing sanctions on Russia, and placed the continent on a course that could eliminate its dependence on Russian energy over the next several years. The collective response to the invasion of Ukraine has little parallel in recent history, which has been more characterized by widening divisions than close coordination. But the Russian invasion of Ukraine has changed that dynamic, with European nations stepping up defense spending and imposing crushing sanctions against Moscow, and some taking initial steps to reorient their energy needs away from Russia. I’m confident that Vladimir Putin was counting on dividing NATO, Biden said during a meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda on Friday. But he hasn’t been able to do it. We’ve all stayed together. Maintaining such unity will likely prove difficult as the war grinds on, and the refugee situation could become one source of strain. Much like NATO is committed to the collective defense of each member, Biden said, other nations should share the burden of caring for Ukrainian refugees. To that end, the U.S. administration announced it would admit up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees into the United States this year. It should be all of NATO’s responsibility, he told Duda, whose country has accepted roughly 2.2 million of the 3.7 million who have fled Ukraine. It’s not clear how many of those displaced Ukrainians who have come through Poland have now moved on to other nations. There’s also no clear path to ending the conflict. Although Russian officials have suggested they will focus their invasion on the Donbas, a region in East Ukraine, Biden wasn’t so sure if there was a real shift underway. Asked on Saturday if the Russians have changed their strategy, he told reporters that I am not sure they have. Despite the hazards ahead, Biden insisted there is more reason to be hopeful that the West and Ukraine can eventually succeed. A dictator bent on rebuilding an empire will never erase a people’s love for liberty, Biden said. Brutality will never grind down their will to be free. Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia, for free people refuse to live in a world of hopelessness and darkness. (https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/national-international/biden-ending-europe-trip-with-unity-message-that-echoes-past/2856461/)

Some Passports Are Better Than Others. Here’s a List of the Most Powerful Ones

A new index ranks Luxembourg as the top passport in the world for aspiring global citizens. The small European country ranked No. 1 out of 199 places in the Nomad Passport Index 2022 published by the tax and immigration consultancy Nomad Capitalist. While many passport rankings focus solely on visa-free travel, this index adds taxation, global perception, ability to obtain dual citizenship and personal freedoms into its scoring. I don’t think visa-free travel is all that matters, said CEO Andrew Henderson. For example, U.S. and Canadian passports are similar in terms of travel strength, he said. However, if you’re an American, you’re subject to taxes no matter where you live, and so those two passports should not be ranked next to each other. Five factors Here is the index’s methodology: Regarding tax policies, 10 points were assigned to places with worldwide taxation and 50 points for those with no tax. Those that placed other tax restrictions on passport holders scored somewhere in between. The list Here’s the top 50 list: The top 10 rankings remained unchanged from last year, with the half-point difference between No. 1 Luxembourg and No. 2 Sweden coming down to “one extra country visa,” said Henderson. Taxes are high in both countries, “but if you want to leave, it’s relatively flexible,” he said. Both countries are perceived well globally and rank highly for personal freedom, said Henderson, noting Sweden demonstrated the latter with its hands-off approach to the pandemic. The complete list can be viewed at Nomad Capitalist’s website. What changed in the past year? Nearly 85 of the places in the top 30 list are in Europe. What’s notable, said Henderson, is that countries like Malta, Iceland and Slovakia places “that people don’t often talk about” in terms of passport strength hold their own against powerhouses such as Italy and Germany. They also score above countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia and United States. Brent Lewin Bloomberg Getty Images Australia was docked points for restricting its citizens from entering the country during the pandemic, said Henderson. Vanuatu slipped from tied for 69th place in 2021 to 85th this year, after the Council of the European Union partially suspended its visa waiver agreement with the island nation earlier this month. The decision was prompted by concerns that Vanuatu’s investor citizenship schemes which allow people to obtain citizenship in exchange for $130,000 investments in the islands posed a security threat to the EU, according to the Council’s website. Citizenship was granted to people on the Interpol database and rejection rates were “extremely low,” according to the website. A ‘passport portfolio’ It’s not necessarily the case that the higher a country’s passport ranking, the more suitable it is for someone looking to obtain a second or third citizenship there, said Henderson. People generally build a “passport portfolio” for one of two reasons: to reduce their taxes or to have a back-up residency plan. A Luxembourg citizenship likely won’t serve either of these groups, he said. Nutthavood Punpeng Moment Getty Images Singapore, the only non-European country on the top 10 list, is perceived well around the globe, said Henderson. “Who doesn’t like Singapore?” he said. But citizenship in Portugal, the Caribbean or Malta may especially for people in the second group. The index also demonstrates that some countries’ passports are stronger than people realize. “There are passports that people don’t realize are actually pretty good,” he said. “Malaysia barely beats out the United States, which is very interesting Everyone I’ve ever met from Central America doesn’t like their passport but Central American passports are actually pretty good quality.” Correction: This report has been updated because an earlier photo caption inadvertently gave the wrong name for Andrew Henderson. This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser. (https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/business/money-report/some-passports-are-better-than-others-heres-a-list-of-the-most-powerful-ones/2926581/)

Pope Blasts Russia’s ‘Infantile’ War, EU-Libya Deal in Malta

Pope Francis said Saturday he was considering a possible visit to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and blasted the leader who launched a savage war, delivering his most pointed denunciation yet of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In his remarks in Malta, Francis didn’t cite President Vladimir Putin by name, but the reference was clear when he said some potentate had unleashed the threat of nuclear war on the world in an infantile and destructive aggression. We had thought that invasions of other countries, savage street fighting and atomic threats were grim memories of a distant past, Francis told Maltese officials on the Mediterranean island nation at the start of a weekend visit. Francis has to date avoided referring to Russia or Putin by name, in keeping with the Vatican’s tradition of not calling out aggressors to keep open options for dialogue. But Saturday’s criticism of the powerful figure responsible for the war marked a new level of outrage for the pope. Once again, some potentate, sadly caught up in anachronistic claims of nationalist interest, is provoking and fomenting conflicts, whereas ordinary people sense the need to build a future that will either be shared or not be at all, he said. Francis told reporters en route to Malta that a possible visit to Kyiv was on the table, but no dates have been set or trip confirmed. The mayor of the Ukrainian capital had invited Francis on March 8 to come as a messenger of peace along with other religious figures, but has recently warned even healthy city residents who fled that the city is still endangered by Russian hostilities. Francis also said the war had pained his heart so much that he sometimes forgets about the pain in his knees. Francis has been suffering for months from a strained ligament in his right knee. The inflammation got so bad that the Vatican arranged for a tarmac elevator to get him on and off the plane for Saturday’s flight to Malta, and his limp was more pronounced Saturday. The Malta visit, originally scheduled for May 2020, was always supposed to focus on migration, given Malta’s role at the heart of Europe’s migration debate. The issue took on more import with the forced exodus of over 4 million Ukrainian refugees. Francis focused his remarks on the perilous Mediterranean migration route and Europe’s flawed migration policies in welcoming people fleeing war, poverty and conflict. Speaking with Malta’s president by his side, Francis denounced the sordid agreements the European Union has made with Libya to turn back migrants and said Europe must show humanity in welcoming them. He called for the Mediterranean to be a theater of solidarity, not the harbinger of a tragic shipwreck of civilization. Francis was referring to the EU’s program to train Libya’s coast guard, which patrols the North African country’s coast for migrant smuggling and brings the would-be refugees back to shore. The program was strongly backed by Italy and other front-line Mediterranean countries to try to stem the flow of hundreds of thousands of desperate migrants each year. But human rights groups have condemned the EU-funded program as a violation of the migrants’ rights and documented gross abuses in the Libyan detention camps. Just this week, German said its military would no longer provide training to the Libyan coast guard given its unacceptable, and in some cases illegal, treatment of migrants. Francis has condemned the Libyan detention facilities as concentration camps, but he went further Saturday to shame the EU for its complicity in the abuses there. Civilized countries cannot approve for their own interest sordid agreements with criminals who enslave other human beings, he said. Malta, the European Union’s smallest country with a half-million people, has long been on the front lines of the flow of migrants and refugees across the Mediterranean and often has come under fire for refusing to let rescue ships dock. Just this week a German aid group sought port for 106 migrants rescued at sea and, by Saturday, the ship was heading to Sicily instead. Malta has frequently called upon its bigger European neighbors to shoulder more of the burden receiving would-be refugees. Francis has frequently echoed that call, and linked it on Saturday to the welcome the Maltese once gave the Apostle Paul, who according to the biblical account was shipwrecked off Malta around A.D. 60 while en route to Rome and was shown unusual kindness by the islanders. Later Saturday, Francis travelled by catamaran ferry to the island of Gozo, making his own the Mediterranean seafaring tradition to celebrate a prayer meeting at Malta’s national shrine. Flanked by two Maltese churchmen who are key aides at the Vatican, Francis sat on a white chair on deck for the hour-long trip and was welcomed by thundering canons as the ship came in Gozo’s port. ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. (https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/national-international/pope-heads-to-malta-migration-ukraine-war-top-his-agenda/2930523/)

Meta sets up special team to deal with rampant misinformation around Ukraine

Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp’s umbrella company Meta says it has taken a number of measures to fight misinformation and to protect its platforms against cyberattacks amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “The situation in Ukraine is devastating. Our teams at Meta have implemented a number of measures to keep our platforms and our users in the region as safe as we can,” wrote Meta’s VP of global affairs Nick Clegg in a Twitter post Thursday. According to Clegg, Meta has established a Special Operations Center “staffed by experts and native speakers,” that will respond in real time to remove misinformation, hate speech, or content that incites violence on its platforms. Meta will also label content from state-controlled media, as well as content that its fact checkers have rated false. Tweet may have been deleted Finally, Meta’s cybersecurity teams are monitoring for coordinated attempts to abuse its platform, wrote Clegg. Nathaniel Gleicher, head of security policy at Facebook, also said the platform has launched a new feature in Ukraine, allowing users to lock their profiles in order to provide an extra layer of privacy and security. While their profile is locked, people who aren’t these users’ friends won’t be able to download or share their profile photo, or see posts on their timeline. Tweet may have been deleted Facebook previously deployed a similar tool in war-affected areas, including in Afghanistan in 2021. SEE ALSO: How to keep up with the news from Russia and Ukraine On Thursday, Twitter also posted a set of guidelines that should help protect users from cyberattacks. In the thread, the company explains how to choose a strong password, set up two-factor authentication, or delete your account, among other guides. Tweet may have been deleted Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been accompanied by a number of cyberattacks, including attacks on the websites of Ukrainian banks and government. The European Union recently formed a rapid-response cybersecurity team to help defend Ukraine from such attacks. There have also been numerous reports of misinformation on Facebook and Twitter, and other platforms. (https://mashable.com/article/facebook-ukraine-russia-special-team)

No fast-track procedure for Ukraine to join EU, Dutch government warns

The cabinet has insisted Ukraine will not be offered a ‘fast-track’ route to join the European Union after EC president. (https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2022/04/no-fast-track-procedure-for-ukraine-to-join-eu-dutch-government-warns/)

EU outlines plan to boost European chip manufacturing

The European Union this week announced the European Chips Act which is going to help fund the region’s semiconductor production capabilities. This comes just as the global race for advanced chip production is intensifying amid soaring consumer demand and a desire to create a more resilient tech supply chain. (https://www.techspot.com/news/93338-eu-outlines-plan-boost-european-chip-manufacturing.html)

Lithuania cuts off Russian gas imports, urges EU to do same

By LIUDAS DAPKUS Associated Press VILNIUS, Lithuania Lithuania says it has cut itself off entirely of gas imports from Russia, apparently becoming the first of the European Union’s 27 nations using Russian gas to break its energy dependence upon Moscow. The country’s energy minister says Lithuania has completely abandoned Russian gas. He says The post Lithuania cuts off Russian gas imports, urges EU to do same appeared first on News Channel 3-12. (https://keyt.com/news/money-and-business/ap-national-business/2022/04/03/lithuania-cuts-off-russian-gas-imports-urges-eu-to-do-same/)

As Russia sees tech brain drain, other nations hope to gain

By LIUDAS DAPKUS Associated Press VILNIUS, Lithuania Russian technology workers are fleeing the country by the tens of thousands as the economy goes into a tailspin under pressure from international sanctions. For some countries, Russia’s loss is seen as their potential gain. An elite pool of high-tech exiles furnished with European Union visas The post As Russia sees tech brain drain, other nations hope to gain appeared first on News Channel 3-12. (https://keyt.com/news/money-and-business/ap-national-business/2022/03/31/as-russia-sees-tech-brain-drain-other-nations-hope-to-gain/)

German panel recommends booster for recipients of 4 vaccines

BERLIN Germany’s independent vaccination advisory panel is recommending a booster shot with a messenger RNA vaccine for people who have had a full course of four Chinese, Indian and Russian COVID-19 vaccines that aren’t currently approved for use in the European Union. In a draft recommendation Thursday, the panel, known by its German The post German panel recommends booster for recipients of 4 vaccines appeared first on News Channel 3-12. (https://keyt.com/news/money-and-business/ap-national-business/2022/03/31/german-panel-recommends-booster-for-recipients-of-4-vaccines/)

With war next door, EU is warned on cybersecurity gaps

BRUSSELS As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine accelerates European Union defense cooperation, a watchdog says EU institutions face vulnerabilities on another front: cybersecurity. The warning by the European Court of Auditors covers the wide range of EU bodies from the executive arm based in Brussels to specialist agencies located across Europe that The post With war next door, EU is warned on cybersecurity gaps appeared first on News Channel 3-12. (https://keyt.com/news/money-and-business/ap-national-business/2022/03/29/with-war-next-door-eu-is-warned-on-cybersecurity-gaps/)

EU Replacement Funding 151 Million Less in The First Year

Minister says Shared Prosperity Fund ‘undermines devolution’ and ‘fails communities’. Business Minister Ivan McKee has said the UK Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund fails to deliver promised funding for Scotland following the UK’s exit from the European Union. New arrangements published today will see 32 million allocated to Scotland for 2022-2023 151 million short of The post EU Replacement Funding 151 Million Less in The First Year first appeared on The Highland Times. (https://thehighlandtimes.com/eu-replacement-funding-151-million-less-in-the-first-year%ef%bf%bc/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=eu-replacement-funding-151-million-less-in-the-first-year%25ef%25bf%25bc)

Legislative Consent Refused on UK Subsidy Control Bill

The Scottish Parliament has backed the Scottish Government’s call to refuse legislative consent on the UK Government’s Subsidy Control Bill. Business Minister Ivan McKee says the legislation, which replaces State Aid Rules lost as a result of the UK’s exit from the European Union, undermines devolution as there is no requirement to consult Scottish Ministers. The post Legislative Consent Refused on UK Subsidy Control Bill first appeared on The Highland Times. (https://thehighlandtimes.com/legislative-consent-refused-on-uk-subsidy-control-bill%ef%bf%bc/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=legislative-consent-refused-on-uk-subsidy-control-bill%25ef%25bf%25bc)

Sturgeon will LOSE Indyref2 if SNP sticks to EU plan chances blown apart by own ALLY

NICOLA STURGEON will suffer a devastating loss in any Scottish independence referendum if she tries to link a split from the UK to Scotland rejoining the European Union according to a former SNP Cabinet Secretary. (https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1563539/nicola-sturgeon-news-snp-scottish-independence-indyref2-rejoin-eu-brexit-update)

EU reveals how long Ukrainian refugees will be allowed to stay

The European Union is preparing a proposal to grant Ukrainians who flee the conflict with Russia three years’ right to stay and work Read Full Article at RT.com (https://www.rt.com/news/550854-eu-ukrainian-refugees-remain/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS)

EU mocked for reversing Brexit threat as Liz Truss in Brussels for crunch meeting

THE EUROPEAN UNION has been brutally mocked for reversing its stance on Britain as Foreign Secretary Liz Truss heads to Brussels for crunch talks surrounding the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. (https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1575879/brexit-news-eu-liz-truss-talks-brussels-nato-g7-russia-ukraine-war-invasion)

‘Breached principle.’ Brexit Britain hit with EU court case amid Northern Ireland talks

BREXIT BRITAIN has been hit with a court case challenge from the European Union as talks between the UK and the Brussels bloc over Northern Ireland continue, a report has claimed. (https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1563695/brexit-britain-latest-news-european-union-northern-ireland-supreme-court-ont)

EU in meltdown after ‘punishing’ UK with BAN from key project Britain strikes new deal

THE EUROPEAN UNION is in meltdown as scientists from across the continent criticise the bloc for banning the UK from a key innovation and research project. (https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1564183/eu-news-france-punishing-uk-brexit-britain-ban-partnership-switzerland-horizon-europe)

‘Made themselves dependent on Russia’ Michael Portillo savages EU over green ‘lecturing’

MICHAEL PORTILLO has blasted the European Union for “lecturing” Britains on green energy while Europe was “making themselves dependent on Russian gas.” (https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1577536/Russia-oil-Europe-gas-EU-energy-Germany-Vladimir-Putin-sanction-Ukraine-invasion-vn)

YouTube is now blocking Russia state-affiliated media globally

In a further expansion of its policy responses to Russia’s war in Ukraine, YouTube has said it’s now blocking Kremlin-backed media outlets globally not just in Europe where two Russia state-affiliated channels, Russia Today and Sputnik, along with their subsidiaries, were sanctioned by the European Union last week. This goes above and beyond (https://techcrunch.com/2022/03/11/youtube-is-now-blocking-russia-state-affiliated-media-globally/)

Brexit LIVE: Bitter EU threatens to AXE deal as Britain builds ties with Australia and US

THE European Union has threatened to stop the free flow of data between the bloc and the EU if the UK pursues ties with the US and Australia. (https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1572924/brexit-live-eu-deal-us-Australia-liz-truss-vdl-northern-Ireland-protocol-latest)