A few days into the second month of the war in Ukraine, Western countries are increasingly delivering heavy weapons to Ukraine to deal with Russia, which is now focused on the Donbass region. At the diplomatic level, the UN Secretary -General will visit the two countries to try to advance a political solution to the conflict.
- Overview of military assistance to Ukraine. The United States alone has provided $ 4 billion in aid and supplies to Ukraine: from body armor to drones to missiles. Washington’s latest shipment, valued at US $ 800 million, includes 144,000 shells and 121 suicide drones, among other things. In addition to the huge assistance already provided, Britain has pledged an additional € 416 million in assistance. Since last February, Canada has provided US $ 94 million. Ottawa will also send 4 M777 howitzers as well as armored vehicles. On the European side, France has delivered more than 100 million euros worth of military equipment. Germany also shipped thousands of equipment of all kinds. The Baltic countries of Estonia and Lithuania provided more than € 427 million, while Latvia reported giving tens of millions of euros without providing details. Italy prefers to keep its deliveries secret. For its part, Japan sent electric generators and drones.
- Still on the military front, the Pentagon invited 40 allied countries to a meeting in Germany next Tuesday to discuss Ukraine’s long -term security needs. Defense Ministers and senior generals from 20 countries, member or not ofNATO, has already accepted the invitation from U.S. Defense Minister Lyoyd Austin to meet at the U.S. Ramstein base in western Germany, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby announced Friday. According to him, the meeting will make it possible to look at the question of assistance that can be provided by Ukraine’s partners to strengthen its military power, once the war is over.
- On the other hand, diplomacy seems to have stopped finding a way out of the war in Ukraine. According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the negotiations were “skating” after a new session of discussions between the delegations of the two countries. Furthermore, the Secretary General ofUNAntonio Guterres, will travel next week to Russia, where he will be received by Vladimir Putin before heading to Ukraine two days later, where he will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
- One sailor was killed and 27 others are missing after the sinking of the cruiser Moskva last week, the Russian Defense Ministry said, identifying the casualties for the first time, saying other people on board, numbered 396, was evacuated. The Ministry of Defense provides all necessary support and assistance to the families and friends of the deceased and missing, He added. Moskva, the flagship of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea, which can officially count up to 680 crew, sank on April 14. Ukrainians claimed responsibility for a missile attack that sank the ship.
- On the ground, Russian troops declared full control of southern Ukraine and the Dombass region. The Russian army also claims to have successfully intercepted the Azovstal metallurgical complex, the last pocket in which about 2,000 Ukrainian fighters are buried.
- Sweden’s ruling Social Democrats announced on Friday that they hope to reach a decision on their country’s possible candidacy forNATO by May 24. We already have a dialogue about security policy within our party […]. This dialogue should be completed by May 12 and after that we will begin the decision -making process., party secretary Tobias Baudin said in a written statement. The final decision will be made before the next party leadership meeting, scheduled for May 24, he added.
- Europe can do without Russia’s gas in the next six months, but beyond that it will have a severe impact on the economy, underlined Alfred Kammer, the European director of IMFwhich recommends a series of alternative measures such as reducing consumption to have stocks.
- In Canada, Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said it was impossible to work with Russia in the Group of 20 as long as Russia continued its military activities in Ukraine.The G20 cannot work effectively with Russia at the tablehe said at a joint press conference with Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko.
With information from France Media Agency
Source: Radio-Canada