Ukraine

Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, says he has urged Xi Jinping to press Russia to end its “senseless” war in Ukraine and that the Chinese president has agreed to back a peace conference in Switzerland. 

The Russian government should be held responsible for compensating the human and material losses incurred and “its destruction of Ukraine”, rapporteur for the file, Lulzim Basha (Albanian Democratic Party, EPP) said upon opening of the body’s session.

Unveiling US findings, officials said China was helping Russia on a range of areas including the joint production of drones, space-based capabilities, and machine-tool exports vital for producing ballistic missiles. China has been the key factor in revitalizing Russia’s defense industrial base “which had otherwise suffered significant setbacks” since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

Switzerland said Wednesday it will host a high-level international conference in June aimed at ending Russia’s two-year war on Ukraine but acknowledged that Moscow is unlikely to join the peace process.

Russia’s defense minister warned his French counterpart against deploying troops to Ukraine in a rare phone call Wednesday and noted that Moscow is ready to take part in talks to end the conflict.

Foreign Ministers met in Brussels on Wednesday (3 April 2024) for the first of two days of meetings to mark NATO’s 75th anniversary and prepare for the Washington Summit in July.

The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) issued a new report on Tuesday, revealing a surge in credible allegations of torture and executions of captured Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) at the hands of Russian forces.

Ukraine hopes to sign a deal in June to buy two nuclear reactors from Bulgaria as it seeks to compensate for the loss of its vast Russian-occupied six-reactor Zaporizhzhia plant, the head of nuclear firm Energoatom said in an interview.

The assets were frozen shortly after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and have remained so since. It is estimated that roughly 260 billion euros ($281 million) in securities and cash belonging to Central Bank of Russia have been frozen, out of which 210 billion euros are in the European Union and the rest in other Group of Seven countries and Australia.

Russia has instilled a pervasive atmosphere of fear in the occupied regions of Ukraine, perpetrating egregious violations of international humanitarian and human rights laws in an attempt to cement its control, according to a new report from the UN human rights office, OHCHR, released on Wednesday.