20:45
Zelensky-Macron talk: “Defensive interaction between Ukraine and France discussed”
“In an hour-long conversation with Emmanuel Macron, the defensive interaction between Ukraine and France was effectively discussed. I informed in detail about the situation at the front. We have been discussing further steps to implement the formula for peace. We have coordinated the actions for the next international events”. The Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky writes it on Telegram.
20:39
Zelensky: “Russia’s presidency of the Security Council complete failure of these institutions”
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Russian Federation’s presidency at the United Nations Security Council which begins today demonstrates the “complete failure of such institutions”. UNIAN brings it back. “Today a terrorist state has begun to preside over the UN Security Council. Yesterday the Russian army killed another Ukrainian child, a five-month-old baby”, while continuing to bombard every day with “hundreds of artillery shells”, added the Kiev leader in his usual evening video message.
20:37
Russian ambassador to the UN: “The idea of depriving Moscow of the right to preside over the Security Council is absurd”
The Russian ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia in an interview with Tass defined the idea of depriving Moscow of the right to preside over the Security Council (as requested by Kiev) “simply absurd”. Among other things, the diplomat stressed that an exclusion would be impossible without changes to the UN Charter. “Those who use this cheap demagoguery to deprive Russia of its legitimate legal status are well aware of the legal side of the issue,” he added. Russia is the continuator of the USSR, subject of international law which has inherited not only the rights and obligations of its predecessor, but also its own legal character. The status of the Russian Federation is officially recognized by the international community. Exclusion from the Security Council is impossible without amendments to the Charter of the United Nations, cjust as it is impossible to deprive Russia of the right to chair the Council”.
20:36
UN diplomat: “The expectation is that Russia will lead this presidency in a professional manner”
Russia is a permanent member of the UN Security Council, and while they are behaving very badly towards Ukraine and tearing up the UN Charter, the expectation is that they will run this presidency in a professional manner. A diplomat from the Security Council told ANSA on the occasion of the start of Moscow’s rotating presidency. The last time Russia led the CDS was in February 2022, the month it kicked off its invasion of Ukraine.
20:34
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to chair UN Security Council meeting in New York
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will chair the UN Security Council meeting in New York. This was stated by the spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova. Russia will assume the presidency of the UN Security Council on 1 April. This is “another key event of the Russian presidency which will be an open high-level debate on ‘effective multilateralism through the defense of the principles of the United Nations Charter'”, added Zakharova.
20:32
Kuleba on Russia’s rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council: “A slap in the face”
“The Worst April Fool’s Day”. Thus on twitter the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba commented on the beginning, from today for a month, of the Russian presidency of the United Nations Security Council. “It is a slap in the face to the international community”, he wrote, while yesterday he denounced how the Russian presidency “is a strong reminder that something is wrong with the way the architecture of international security works: a state that systematically ruins the peace and international security will preside over the body charged with maintaining them”.
20:29
The first phase of conscription has begun in Russia and will continue until 15 July
The first phase – the spring phase – of conscription began today in Russia, which will last until July 15 and which concerns men aged between 18 and 27, who are required to carry out at least one year of military service. This was reported by the Rbk portal, which cites a decree by President Vladimir Putin. According to Vladimir Tsimlyansky, Rear Admiral of the General Staff, about 147,000 of the 700,000 potential conscripts were recalled, none of whom – he underlined – were called to fight in Ukraine. For the first time, calls from military district offices will now also be sent electronically, the same source said.
20:29
“NATO countries plan to send two battalions of German Leopard 2 tanks and four battalions of Leopard 1 tanks to Ukraine”
“NATO countries plan to send to Ukraine two battalions of German Leopard 2 tanks and four battalions of Leopard 1″ tanks. This was reported to the German newspaper Die Welt by German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, writes Kiev Independent, recalling that the total 160 tanks represent about half of the 300 tanks requested by Ukraine for the expected spring/summer counter-offensive.
Pistorius said that “Poland, together with the allies, will send two battalions of Leopard-2s for a total of 60 tanks to Kiev. Four battalions of 100 Leopard-1 tanks could be delivered by the end of the year,” he added. The Leopard 2 tanks Germany promised for Ukraine will be delivered in early April, Pistorius specified on January 26, quoted by Deutsche Welle.
18:13
New Ukrainian sanctions against Russian people and companies
Ukraine has imposed new sanctions against Russian individuals and companies, and against a company located on Russian-occupied territory of Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelensky has issued a decree targeting hundreds of companies, organizations and individuals responsible for supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In most cases, the sanctions last for ten years. The directors of armaments factories and military research institutes have been particularly affected, but the new measures also concern the Russian finance ministry and the Federation Council, the upper house of parliament in Moscow. Also including Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards: Tehran’s regime is suspected of having supplied Russia with kamikaze drones used in airstrikes. Among the Ukrainian personalities affected is Vyacheslav Bohuzlayev, the former director of the turbine manufacturing company Motor Sich, who has been in custody since last autumn on suspicion of collaborating with Russia.