The United States contributed an additional $1,7 billion to ensure that the Ukrainian government can continue to operate and provide essential services, such as health care, by paying the salaries of healthcare workers.
Also on Tuesday, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen stated that a $1 billion EU contribution should arrive in Ukraine this month.
Congress’ “generous bipartisan support” made the U.S. contribution possible, according to the U.S. Agency for International Development.
To date, USAID has provided $4 billion in direct budgetary support to the Ukrainian government for core functions such as maintaining electricity in hospitals, schools, and other vital infrastructure, purchasing humanitarian supplies, and paying civil servants’ and teachers’ salaries.
“$1.7 billion is not merely another financial support; it is an investment that brings us one step closer to victory,” Ukraine’s minister of health, Viktor Liashko, said in a statement.
Latest developments
Rinat Akhmetov, a Ukrainian billionaire, stated that he is leaving the media industry to avoid being labeled an oligarch. According to the Kyiv Independent, Akhmetov’s System Capital Management group will transfer media holdings to the government. “As the largest private investor in Ukraine, I have repeatedly stated that I was not, am not, and will never be an oligarch,” said Akhmetov.
As the Kremlin continues its efforts to claim the entire eastern Donbas region, its soldiers are exhausted, according to the British military. Since the Russian invasion on February 24, President Vladimir Putin has ordered a period of rest for the troops, but the bombardment continues.
Putin will visit Iran after concluding an agreement for military drones
The Kremlin announced on Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Iran the following week, one day after the Biden administration disclosed that Tehran has agreed to provide Russia with “several hundred” drones.
Putin will meet with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, both of whom have criticized the Western sanctions imposed on Russia.
Monday, national security adviser Jake Sullivan stated that intelligence suggests Iran could train Russian forces on military-capable drones as early as this month. According to him, it is unclear whether Iran has already delivered any drones. Sullivan, speaking at a White House press briefing, cited Russia’s reliance on Iran for military equipment as an illustration of how Russia’s fighting in eastern Ukraine “costs it the ability to maintain its own weapons.”
Sanctions pressure squeezes Russian car industry
According to a report by the state-run news agency Tass, sales of new passenger cars in Russia are anticipated to fall by 28 percent in 2022 and could fall by as much as 50 percent. The auditing firm Trust Technologies blamed increased sanctions pressure, declining imports, and a “massive exodus” of foreign firms from Russia. It was anticipated that sales would include 227,000 Russian-made vehicles, 688,000 foreign vehicles assembled in Russia, and 175,000 imported vehicles. Last year, approximately 1.5 million new cars were sold in Russia.
Zelenskyy criticizes Canada’s exemption from sanctions
Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Canada’s representative in Kyiv after Canada approved a sanction exemption permitting the return of turbines to Russia, which Moscow blamed for a decrease in gas flows to Europe. The Canadian government stated that the agreement would facilitate Europe’s access to energy as the EU transitions away from Russian oil and gas. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the decision as “absolutely unacceptable” and warned that it will be perceived as a sign of weakness in Moscow.
The UN will track violations against children
The United Nations announced on Monday that it will begin monitoring the conflict in Ukraine for violations against children, such as murder, injury, recruitment, rape, and other forms of sexual violence.
In his annual report to the Security Council on children and armed conflicts, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres noted that Ukraine, Ethiopia, Mozambique, and the central Sahel region of Africa have been added to the 21 conflicts that the United Nations already monitors for violations of children’s rights. In 2021, he said, the latter conflicts witnessed “a high number of grave violations.”
The U.N. chief stated that the protection of children was severely compromised by escalating conflicts, the proliferation of armed groups, land mines and improvised explosive devices, explosive weapons in populated areas, intensified humanitarian crises, and violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.
Virginia Gamba, the U.N. special envoy for children and armed conflict, stated at a news conference that “forays of extremely violent armed groups, military coups and instability, and violent electoral processes in fragile states” resulted in 19,100 child victims of grave violations in twenty-one countries and regions monitored by the United Nations in 2021.
