Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, said on Tuesday that Kyiv was preparing new reforms in preparation for a summit at the end this week with top EU officials.
Zelensky stated in his nightly speech that the reforms will “change the social, legal, and political reality on many levels, making it humane, transparent, and effective.” These details will be revealed later,” he said.
Ukraine will host European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, and other top EU officials, on Friday. Kyiv is hopeful that its application to become a member of the EU will move quickly.
According to reports, US President Joe Biden has told reporters that he plans to speak with President Zelensky regarding future military assistance packages.
Biden replied, “We’re going talk,” when asked if Zelensky had spoken to him and what he intended to tell him regarding future assistance requests.
Two US officials who were briefed on this matter told Reuters that the US was preparing to offer Kyiv a $2.2billion military aid package. This package is expected to include rockets with longer ranges for the very first time as well as munitions and other weapons.
Andriy Kostin, Ukraine’s prosecutor general, said on Wednesday that regional authorities had registered more than 65 000 Russian war crimes since the conflict in Moscow began almost a year ago.
“We all have witnessed with horror the evidences of atrocities in Bucha, Irpin Mariupol Izium, Kherson Kharkiv and other liberated towns and cities,” Kostin stated, noting that mass grave sites were discovered in areas occupied and occupied by Russian troops.
“These crimes are neither accidental nor incidental. They include indiscriminate killings of civilians, torture, conflict related sexual violence, looting, and forced displacements on a large scale,” he said in remarks made at the Georgetown Law School, Washington.
His comments add to the picture that is emerging of the horrors endured during nearly a full year of war in Ukraine. The conflict shows little sign of ending anytime soon, despite the efforts of local and international officials to investigate possible crimes committed in Ukraine over the past months.
In a separate interview with journalists, Kostin stated that he believed Kyiv is close to gaining US backing to establish a tribunal special to prosecute Russia’s crimes of aggression.
Five ships leave Ukrainian ports as part of the Black Sea Grain Initiative
The organization that oversees the export of agricultural goods from Ukraine said that five vessels with 216,719 tons of grain and other products have left Ukrainian port.
The vessels carrying wheat and corn are bound for Spain, Turkey Portugal, Egypt, and China.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative was a deal that was brokered by Ukraine, Russia and Turkey in July. It eased Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian ports and allowed them to reopen.
More than 690 ships have left Ukrainian ports so far.
US sanctions 22 global network supporting Russia’s military
The US Treasury Department has announced new sanctions against a group of 22 multinational individuals and entities that support Russia’s military industrial complex.
The sanctions are aimed at the “Zimenkov Network”, a Russian network that evades sanctions led by Igor Vladimirovich Zimenkov. He is an arms dealer with offices in Russia and Cyprus. The group worked to supply a Russian firm with high-tech devices for its war against Ukraine, and supported entities previously sanctioned in Russia.
The Zimenkov network reaches as far as Israel, Singapore, Belarus and Bulgaria. The sanctions prevent access to any property or interests of sanctioned individuals or entities that an American owns or has in his possession on US soil.
Boris Johnson urges the West to send fighter planes to Ukraine as soon as possible
Boris Johnson, the former UK Prime Minister, has called on Western allies for Ukraine to receive fighter jets as well as whatever else they need to fight Russia.
Johnson said in an interview with Fox News that “every time we have said giving such and such a piece of weaponry would be a mistake, we end up doing so and it ends being the right thing to do for Ukraine.” The former PM was in Washington to rally Congress members to support Ukraine.
The US and UK recently rejected the idea of sending Western F-16 jet fighters to Ukraine. Kyiv had been asking for this for years.
A spokesperson for Downing Street said on Tuesday that it was not practical to send the jets into Ukraine.
Many Western leaders fear that sending such powerful and sophisticated equipment to Ukraine will provoke Russia too much. Johnson, however, rejected this notion. He said that the same mindset was used to make many previous decisions to send advanced weapons to Ukraine.
“I remember being told that it was a bad idea to give them anti-tank shoulder launched missiles. They were indispensable, and Donald Trump gave them Javelins too. He said that they were essential in the battles against the Russian tanks.
“All I say is save time, money, and lives.” Johnson said: “Give the Ukrainians whatever they need as quickly as possible.”
Compiled by Ana Dumbadze
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