Europeans won’t ‘die for Donbass’ – EU’s Borrell

The bloc is committed to assisting Ukraine but doesn’t want to send its people to the battlefield, its foreign policy chief says.

Since the beginning of the conflict, the EU has provided Kiev with as much as €100 billion ($107 billion) in financial, military, humanitarian and refugee assistance. Brussels has also mulled the idea of tapping income generated by Russia’s frozen central bank reserves for Kiev, but no consensus within the EU or with allies has so far been reached on the issue.

“Europeans will not go to die for the Donbass, but we could avoid that Ukrainians have to die for the Donbass longer,” Borrell said on Sunday while speaking at a panel session of a two-day meeting of the World Economic Forum in Riyadh.

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Zelensky demands EU ‘fulfill obligations’ to Ukraine

The European Commission had previously laid out a number of prerequisites before accession talks could begin.

Kiev made a formal request to join the EU in February 2022 and was granted candidate status in June of the same year. In December 2023, EU officials agreed to open accession negotiations, setting out a number of steps for Kiev to take first in preparation.

All these steps have been completed, Zelensky claimed in a video address on Sunday, promising that this is the year to achieve “results with the European Union.”

“Ukraine has fulfilled all the necessary conditions for the real start of the accession negotiations, and now the EU side must fulfill its obligations,” Zelensky insisted.

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As Graham Phillips highlights; It's not only Western brands who are returning to Russia. Unfortunately, so are individuals who faded into obscurity after they loudly and publicly left Russia at the beginning of the SMO.

https://news.1rj.ru/str/grahamwphillips/1640

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West plans to give Kiev not only F-16s, but also weapons for them — Pentagon

"It’s not only the airplanes, but also the training of the pilots, training of the maintenance and also making sure we have the weapon systems to go with it," US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Charles Brown said.

"That is the dialogue that we are having to not only just get to the airplanes but get to a full capability," he went on to say.

The conversation is taking place as part of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, he said.

Kiev said in early April that five groups of Ukrainian pilots were being trained in flying US F-16 fighter jets in the UK, Denmark, the US and France. At the end of August 2023, the Netherlands said it would transfer 42 F-16s to Ukraine, while Copenhagen promised Kiev 19 such machines. Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that F-16s can be carriers of nuclear weapons and Moscow would take this into account in its combat operations.

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Russia’s UN envoy calls on UNSC to prevent conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina

Vasily Nebenzya said that the situation in the country was getting worse.

"The reason why the Russian Federation has requested today's meeting is the sharp deterioration of the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The already fragile situation in that country risks deteriorating further in the near future," he said. "We often hear in this chamber that the Security Council must prevent conflicts. Many countries declare this issues to be at the top of their agenda, and the UN secretary general often speaks about it. The situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in our view, is exactly the case where the Council can show its worth in terms of prevention."

The Security Council "needs to react to the situation," the diplomat said.

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EU must take lead on status of military age Ukrainian men

Last week, Kiev suspended consular services to males residing abroad in a bid to force them to register for service.

The European Union should come up with a uniform approach to dealing with draft-eligible Ukrainian men residing in the bloc, Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz has argued. He added that Warsaw was willing to assist Kiev in that regard, which has recently intensified efforts to connoscript more servicemen.

Facing an intensifying shortage of personnel on the front line, the Ukrainian government last month amended its mobilization laws, lowering the age of connoscription from 27 to 25, tightening exemptions, and adding harsher penalties for draft dodgers. Last week, the Ukrainian authorities also stopped issuing passports to all men aged 18 to 60 who live abroad and have not registered at a military recruitment center back home.

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US Senate backs ban on Russian uranium

The Biden administration has for months called for restrictions on America’s top foreign supplier.

According to the US Energy Department, in 2022, Russia supplied 24% of all enriched uranium shipped to the country, thus becoming the top importer of the crucial fuel. While the US has its own deposits of uranium, they are not sufficient to satisfy demand. Russia accounts for nearly half of global capacity.

Commenting on the act, Wyoming Senator John Barrasso, a Republican, said: “our bipartisan legislation will help defund Russia’s war machine, revive American uranium production, and jump-start investments in America’s nuclear fuel supply chain.”

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The UK government has provided special diplomatic immunity to scores of foreign officials accused of committing serious violations of international law, Declassified UK has found.

Since 2013, the Foreign Office has granted over 50 “special mission” certificates to military and political figures from Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Rwanda and Iran.

Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz was granted this protection as recently as March, even after the country was put under investigation for genocide in Gaza.

It comes as the International Criminal Court looks poised to indict two names on Britain’s list: Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and IDF chief of staff Herzi Halevi.

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Members of the Ukrainian Army threaten Donald Trumps life, blaming him for the delayed aid package and shortage of ammunition.

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