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Day 650 of the invasion of Ukraine. Summary of key occasions in the 24 hours:
Ukraine had shot down 10 of 17 Russian drones in attacks last night.
The Ukrainian military has shot down 10 of a total of 17 attack drones launched overnight by Russia, Ukrainian authorities said today, Reuters reported.
The governor of Ukraine’s western Lviv region said three drones hit an unspecified infrastructure target, but the damage was minimal and no casualties were reported.
Kyiv’s air force said the drones were shot down over “several areas” of the country.
Six S-300 missiles were fired at civilian targets in eastern Donetsk and southern Kherson region.
In a secret briefing, Zelensky briefed U. S. senators on the war.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer supported the first procedural vote on an additional $106 billion package at President Joe Biden’s insistence to send aid to Ukraine, Israel, Asia-Pacific countries and for humanitarian purposes in Gaza.
However, there is growing skepticism that this will happen. Negotiations on a border security package broke down over the weekend as Republicans pushed for provisions that Democrats disagreed with.
In a letter to House and Senate leaders, the White House warned that by the end of the year, the U. S. would run out of investment to end weapons and aid to Ukraine, and that cutting off supplies of “U. S. weapons and devices would have destructive effects. “consequences. ” Ukraine on the battlefield will jeopardize the successes it has achieved and increase the chances of victories for the Russian army. “
Senior administration officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, are expected to brief all senators on the scenario in Ukraine in a classified briefing in which Volodymyr Zelensky is also expected to brief senators on the scenario in Ukraine’s movement of hostilities.
According to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Zelensky will reach out to senators so they can hear from him exactly what they will vote for.
Schumer introduced a motion Monday night on the bill, which aims to include the supplemental foreign aid program. The main endpoints of this package have yet to be finalized due to disagreements over immigration and asylum policy reforms aimed at cutting off the flow of migrants at the U. S. -Mexico border.
Putin will visit the UAE and Saudi Arabia tomorrow, and on Thursday he will have a meeting in Russia with the Iranian president
Russian President Vladimir Putin will arrive for a stopover in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia, and the following day he will hold talks in Russia with his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by Reuters. . .
Asked if Putin would talk about possible coordinated action in global oil markets during his tour of the Persian Gulf, the spokesman said such talks were brewing within the framework of OPEC, but that the issue had always been on the agenda.
This comes after OPEC countries agreed last Thursday to voluntarily cut oil material by about 2. 2 million barrels per day, a move that sparked skepticism in global oil markets.
Putin’s plans to stop in Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, as well as the United Arab Emirates, were first reported via the SHOT news site. The online page quotes Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuriy Ushakov as saying Putin would travel to the United States first. The United Arab Emirates and then to Saudi Arabia, where he would basically negotiate with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Putin and the Saudi prince have established a close relationship, according to Reuters. This contributed to an agreement to create the OPEC organization in late 2016 to influence global oil markets, where much of both countries’ budget revenues come from.
On the other hand, Dubai has a vital industrial hub for Russian oil corporations, adding Russia’s second-largest oil company, Lukoil, which moved some of its operations to the city after European sanctions against Moscow forced Russian corporations to move their operations to impartial zones. territory. .
Putin has traveled rarely in recent years, most commonly to countries in the former Soviet Union. Its last stop outside this organization of countries was China in October, according to Reuters.
EU and Russian nuclear fuel imports will also increase in 2023
The European Union supports higher Russian imports of nuclear fuel and Russian-designed reactors from the bloc in 2023 compared to 2021, the year before Moscow invaded Ukraine, the Euratom Supply Agency (ESA) said.
While those imports are not subject to EU sanctions, the bloc aims to reduce its dependence on Moscow. Total imports by the Russian nuclear industry remained strong last year despite growing demand for nuclear power driven by high energy prices and a preference to reduce carbon emissions. emissions.
However, it is highly likely that five EU countries using so-called VVER reactors will exceed their 2021 import levels this year after a surge in 2022, ESA’s acting leader told Reuters in an interview. its long-term purpose of self-sufficiency in renewable energy.
“Imports from countries operating Russian-designed VVER reactors increased in 2022 compared to 2021 and are likely to have increased in 2023 compared to the year before the Russian invasion,” Stefano Ciccarello said in remarks released for publication on Friday.
Last year, those five countries (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary and Slovakia) bought 30% more conversion and 22% more enrichment from Russia, ESA said in its October annual report.
“These utilities create more stocks of new fuel. New future purchases will likely contribute in the short term to Russian VVER utilities reaching more fabrics compared to 2021,” he said.
Cicarello did not provide express figures and said it is too early to say whether imports in 2023 will also be higher than last year.
Of the five EU countries that have so far relied entirely on Russian supplies, only Hungary has yet to sign alternative fuel contracts, according to the ESA. The Hungarian government did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.
Finnish group Fortum said its agreements with U. S. -based Westinghouse on alternative fuels are going well, adding: “The arrival of the new fuel is a multi-year task requiring regulatory approvals. “
Overall, EU imports of natural uranium and the like from Russia remained largely unchanged from last year in 2022 as the other utility systems stabilised, ESA said. “Those who don’t depend on Russia are looking to further reduce that dependence. “Ciccarello said.
“On the other hand, there are other people who are absolutely dependent on Russian fuel and are stockpiling fuel to avoid supply disruptions before alternative fuels are allowed to be used. “
Nuclear energy accounts for almost 10% of the energy consumed in the EU, and France covers almost a third of its energy needs. Other primary manufacturers include Sweden and Belgium. Imports of plant uranium to the EU from Russia fell by 16% last year. year to 2021, a drop offset by higher materials from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, ESA said.
In 2022, Russian nuclear energy imports to the EU amounted to around €750 million, or 1% of Russian fuel imports to the bloc, according to the European Commission.
EU countries are recently discussing a Commission proposal for a twelfth set of economic sanctions against Russia in reaction to its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. However, sources said the proposal, which is public, includes sanctions against Russia’s nuclear industry.
The imposition of EU sanctions requires the unanimity of the bloc’s 27 members, which Hungary – where Russian state monopoly Rosatom has a contract for the expansion of the Paks nuclear power plant – refuses to supply in the case of the Russian nuclear power plant.
Beyond Europe, Russia last year was the third-largest supplier of uranium to the United States, which owns the largest number of reactors in the world. The fate of the spending to ban Russian uranium presented to the U. S. Congress is unclear.
Ciccarello said the West would like to increase its existing conversion and enrichment functions by 20% to 30% to compensate for high-risk supplies. The upgrades, which are expected to come online by the end of this decade, will not meet Western demand, he said. “This is a huge investment that spans several decades,” Ciccarello said. “To invest more, the industry is looking for a guaranteed market form. “
Putin in Latvia: Don’t Russians like pigs?
Russian President Vladimir Putin has criticized Latvia’s cure for the Russian population in the Baltic country.
The reason for this is that after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Latvia implemented language checks for stateless people (most of whom are Russians) to check their knowledge of the Latvian language. They are threatened with revoking their apartment leases.
“I don’t think happiness will come to those who implement such a policy,” Putin said Monday in Moscow. The Russian president added that those who treat “part of their population – literally – like pigs, do not deserve to be surprised if it backfires. “
The pro-Kremlin news firm TASS reported that Putin said this at an assembly of the Russian Council for Human Rights. The Kremlin-controlled council debated adjustments to Latvia’s law on foreigners.
About a quarter of the small country’s 1. 8 million people are of Russian origin. However, many Russians are Latvian citizens, but have stateless status, the DPA notes.
Putin “understands” that each and every country requires its other peoples to have a fundamental knowledge of culture and language. However, he believes that the prestige of other people who do not have citizenship represents a deviation from legal norms.
The Russian president also said that Moscow will organize its relations with countries that discriminate against Russians accordingly. In addition, Russia could support Russians abroad to return to their historical homeland.
“If they don’t need to leave and they are deported, there is nothing we can do about it, but we have to create suitable situations for those people,” Putin said.
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