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Russia's President Vladimir Putin says his country will continue its yearlong "special military operation" in Ukraine, and he accused the US-led NATO alliance of fanning the flames.
Russia-Ukraine conflict would have cost world economy $1.6 trillion in 2022, according to a study published by the German Economic Institute.
Kyiv - Ukraine and Russia on Tuesday conducted their fifth prisoner exchange since the start of the conflict, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.
As a result of the swap, 76 Ukrainian prisoners-of-war, including 16 civilians, returned home following their release by Russian forces, Vereshchuk wrote on Telegram.
Of the 60 Ukrainian military personnel released, 10 were officers, she said.
Vereshchuk gave no details on how many Russian captives were exchanged during the swap.
Ukraine and Russia conducted their first prisoner exchange on March 24.
MOSCOW - Russia has declared 15 diplomats from the Netherlands, an unspecified number of diplomats from Belgium, and four diplomats from Austria "personae non gratae" in a tit-for-tat response, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.
The ambassadors of the three countries were summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry in protest over their decisions to declare dozens of Russian diplomats working in these countries "personae non gratae," the ministry said in separate statements.
The Dutch diplomats will need to leave Russia within two weeks, the Belgian diplomats were ordered to leave before the end of the day on May 3, while the Austrian diplomats must leave Russia before the end of the day on April 24.
The ministry also summoned the ambassador of Luxembourg, saying Moscow "reserves the right to retaliate" for Luxembourg's expulsion of an employee at the Russian Embassy.
Media reports cited the Belgian Foreign Ministry as saying that 12 Belgian diplomats were ordered to leave Russia.
MOSCOW/KYIV - The second phase of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine has begun, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday.
The operation in eastern Ukraine is aimed at "completely liberating" the populations of Donetsk and Lugansk, Lavrov said during an interview with India Today.
"This operation will continue, the next phase of this operation has now begun. There will now be an important moment during this special operation," he added.
Also on Tuesday, the Ukrinform news agency reported that up to 30 percent of Ukraine's infrastructure was damaged as the result of the conflict with Russia, which started on Feb 24.
The hostilities have either destroyed or damaged 300 bridges and more than 8,000 km of roads, said Ukrinform, quoting Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov.
The Ukrainian government estimated that the cost of direct damage to the country's infrastructure caused by the conflict could reach $100 billion, added Kubrakov.
WASHINGTON -- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday slashed global growth forecast for 2022 to 3.6 percent amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict, 0.8 percentage point lower than the January projection, according to its newly released World Economic Outlook (WEO) report.
The Ukraine crisis unfolds while the global economy is "on a mending path" but has not yet fully recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic, the report said, noting that global economic prospects have worsened "significantly" since the forecast in January.
A severe double-digit drop in GDP for Ukraine and a large contraction in Russia are "more than likely," along with worldwide spillovers through commodity markets, trade and financial channels, the report showed.
This year's growth outlook for the European Union has been revised downward by 1.1 percentage points to 2.8 percent due to the indirect effects of the conflict, making it a large contributor to the overall downward revision, according to the report.
The U.S. economy is on track to grow 3.7 percent in 2022, 0.3 percentage point lower than the January projection, before growth moderating to 2.3 percent in 2023. The Chinese economy is expected to grow 4.4 percent this year, 0.4 percentage point lower than the previous projection, followed by a 5.1-percent growth in 2023, the report showed.
China's National Bureau of Statistics said Monday the country's gross domestic product grew 4.8 percent year on year to 27.02 trillion yuan (about 4.24 trillion U.S. dollars) in the first three months, which is a steady start in 2022 in the face of global challenges and a resurgence of COVID-19 cases.
Analysts said the full-year growth target of 5.5 percent set by China's policymakers is still attainable but requires greater efforts, given increasing economic headwinds.
Global growth is projected to decline from an estimated 6.1 percent in 2021 to 3.6 percent in both 2022 and 2023, 0.8 and 0.2 percentage points lower for 2022 and 2023, respectively, than in the January projection, the report noted.
The latest report said the Russia-Ukraine conflict, monetary tightening and financial market volatility, and the pandemic would shape the near-term global outlook.
Inflation has become "a clear and present danger" for many countries, IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas noted in a blog published Tuesday morning.
He said even prior to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, inflation surged on the back of soaring commodity prices and supply-demand imbalances, and many central banks, such as the U.S. Federal Reserve, had already moved toward tightening monetary policy.
Conflict-related disruptions "amplify those pressures," said Gourinchas. "We now project inflation will remain elevated for much longer."
For 2022, inflation is projected at 5.7 percent in advanced economies and 8.7 percent in emerging markets and developing economies, 1.8 and 2.8 percentage points higher than the January projection, the report showed.
Financial conditions tightened for emerging markets and developing countries immediately after the conflict, Gourinchas noted. "Several financial fragility risks remain, raising the prospect of a sharp tightening of global financial conditions as well as capital outflows," he said.
On the fiscal side, policy space was already eroded in many countries by the pandemic, said the IMF chief economist. "The surge in commodity prices and the increase in global interest rates will further reduce fiscal space, especially for oil- and food-importing emerging markets and developing economies."
The report also warned that the conflict increases the risk of a more "permanent fragmentation" of the world economy into geopolitical blocks with distinct technology standards, cross-border payment systems and reserve currencies.
"Such a 'tectonic shift' would cause long-run efficiency losses, increase volatility and represent a major challenge to the rules-based framework that has governed international and economic relations for the last 75 years," Gourinchas said.
In a recent article, The American Conservative magazine said that the US will fight Russia until the last Ukrainian.
A good and sharp comment, but Ukraine is not the only cannon fodder of the US. Many European countries are also suffering as natural gas shortage because they have joined the US in sanctioning Russia.
The US pushed NATO's expansion eastward and tied the EU to its chariot, without considering the latter's interests a bit.
For its selfish interests, the US is starting a Cold War 2.0 for the world.
Ironically, while doing the evil deeds, the US claims it defends peace.
It even pretends to help Ukraine by imposing economic sanctions.
Actually US arms dealers and energy suppliers are happy counting money behind the warfare.
Time to stop being cheated and for the two sides to come back to the negotiation table.
MEXICO CITY -- The conflict in Ukraine is poised to cripple the European Union (EU) and its unified currency the euro as policymakers in Washington intended, said a column published recently by Cuba's state daily Granma.
Faced with its own decline, the United States is working to bring down other potential global heavyweights by pushing an unnecessary and costly conflict that could have political and economic repercussions for years to come, international relations expert and columnist Jorge Casals Llano wrote in an article headlined "Ukraine in the American anti-European and deglobalization strategy."
US strategists have planned the crisis in Ukraine to "try to stop the imperial decline and the rise of poles of power capable of challenging it for global hegemony, including Europe," he said.
It is increasingly clear that Europe has nothing to gain and much to lose from the conflict spearheaded by the US-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), he noted.
In dealing with the United States, "we must always keep in mind the phrase attributed to John Foster Dulles ...'the United States of America does not have friends; it has interests,'" he said.
ALGIERS - Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, held a phone conversation on Monday, exchanging views over bilateral cooperation as well as a series of regional issues.
According to a statement from the Algerian Presidency, Tebboune and Putin discussed the forthcoming bilateral economic cooperation and pledged to further exchange high-level visits.
The two presidents also talked about the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and the escalating tensions between Palestine and Israel.
In a Kremlin's press release, Putin and Tebboune agreed to continue coordination within the format of the OPEC+, a loosely-affiliated entity consisting of the 13 OPEC members and 10 world's major non-OPEC oil-exporting nations, to ensure stability of global energy markets.
They "agreed to maintain contacts at various levels," it added.
UNITED NATIONS - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday again called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Ukraine to allow for the delivery of life-saving aid as well as evacuations.
The appeal followed attacks on cities across the country - most recently Lviv, Dnipro, Kharkiv and Mykolaiv - which reportedly resulted in numerous civilian casualties and destruction.
Guterres was also greatly concerned about the continuing appalling humanitarian situation in the besieged port city of Mariupol, Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the secretary-general, said at a regular press briefing.
"The secretary-general strongly urges all parties to enact an urgent and immediate humanitarian ceasefire, which will enable the safe and secure functioning of humanitarian corridors, help evacuate civilian residents and also deliver life-saving humanitarian and medical assistance," said Dujarric.
Adding that "genuine negotiations must be given a chance to succeed and to bring lasting peace," he said the UN stands ready to help.
Martin Griffiths, the UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and the emergency relief coordinator, told journalists prior to the briefing that humanitarian ceasefires in Ukraine are "not on the horizon," but could occur in a couple of weeks.
During his visits to Russia and Ukraine earlier this month, Griffiths met with senior officials to discuss UN "aspirations" for humanitarian pauses and on how to improve the notification system that allows safe passage of humanitarian workers and supplies.
"Obviously we have not yet got humanitarian ceasefires in place on the Russian side," the UN relief chief said. "I went into a lot of details on this, and they continue to promise to get back to me on the details of those proposals."
Griffiths will travel to Turkey this week to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on hosting humanitarian talks between Russia and Ukraine. On Sunday, Guterres spoke with Erdogan, expressing his ongoing support for the Istanbul process related to the war in Ukraine.
Asked about Turkey's role, Griffiths said he was impressed by how the country has presented itself to both sides as a "genuinely valuable and useful host" for talks.
"In classical mediation terms, there isn't a mediation really going between the Russians and Ukrainians," he said, "but the Turks come closest to it in terms of all member states."
On the prospects for a ceasefire, Griffiths pointed to the example of Yemen, where warring sides have implemented a two-month truce.
"Ceasefires, they're not on the horizon right now. But they may be in a couple of weeks; they may be a little longer than that," he said. "And it will all depend on two things: the war, of course...and the talks."
KYIV - Russian forces have begun the battle for the Donbas region, but Ukraine will defend itself, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address on Monday.
"Now we can say that Russian troops have started the battle for Donbas, for which they have been preparing for a long time. A very large part of the entire Russian army is now focused on this offensive," Zelensky was quoted as saying by the state-run Ukrinform news agency.
"No matter how many Russian troops are driven there, we will fight," he added.
In the east and south of Ukraine, Russian forces have recently been trying to attack a little more deliberately than before and looking for a weak spot in the country's defense to go there with the main forces, Zelensky said.
Kyiv - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday handed over a questionnaire aimed at achieving his country's candidate status for the European Union (EU) membership to the EU Ambassador to Ukraine Matti Maasikas, the presidential press service said.
"Today is one of the stages for our country in joining the EU, the aspiration that our people are striving for and fighting for," Zelensky said at the handover ceremony in Kyiv.
The people of Ukraine are united by the goal to become a part of the EU, Zelensky stressed, noting that the prompt work on providing a questionnaire to Ukraine is an important signal for Kyiv.
"We believe that we will gain support and become a candidate for accession," Zelensky said.
For his part, Maasikas said that Ukraine's answers to the questionnaire will be analyzed "very quickly".
Earlier in the day, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna said that Kyiv has sent the first part of a questionnaire, which covers political and economic spheres, to the European Commission.
The other part, which assesses the compliance of Ukrainian legislation with the EU laws, will be sent to the European Commission soon, Stefanishyna said.
On Feb 28, Zelensky signed an official appeal to the EU asking for the accession of Ukraine via a new special procedure.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen handed over a questionnaire to Zelensky during her visit to Kyiv on April 8.
MOSCOW - Russian troops destroyed a depot of weapons supplied by Western countries near west Ukraine's Lviv on Monday morning, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.
The Russian Aerospace Forces used high-precision airborne missiles to hit a logistics center of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Lviv, destroying large consignments of weapons arrived from the United States and European countries over the past six days, Konashenkov told a briefing.
At least seven people were killed and 11 others wounded on Monday morning in missile strikes on the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, said Maksym Kozytsky, head of the Lviv regional military-civilian administration.
KYIV - Five missiles struck Ukraine's western city of Lviv on Monday morning, city Mayor Andriy Sadovyi wrote on Facebook.
The emergency services rushed to the site of the blasts, Sadovyi said.
ADDIS ABABA -- The impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict is felt internationally, but it affects wheat and oil importing African countries worst, a business leader has said.
"The Russia-Ukraine conflict has a very significant, a very immediate impact on many African economies that import wheat and other food products from Russia and Ukraine," said Zemedeneh Negatu, chairman of Fairfax Africa Fund, a Washington-based global investment firm, in a recent interview with Xinhua.
The sanctions by the United States and its allies against Russia have worsened food inflation across the African continent, where the prices of fuel and other commodities are rising rapidly, according to Negatu.
"A majority of African nations are feeling the economic pain caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict as the supply chain has been disrupted by the sanctions," he said, noting that Russia and Ukraine are the major suppliers of wheat to the continent.
"There are now a lot of restrictions on trading with Russia. So, prices of many items including wheat and steel have gone up as the supply chain from Ukraine and Russia has been disrupted," he added.
In its latest report, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development revealed that Somalia, Benin, Egypt, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal and Tanzania are the African countries most affected by the market disruptions caused by the sanctions and the conflict in Ukraine.
Negatu said the Russia-Ukraine conflict has also gravely affected the tourism sector, particularly in northern Africa.
"The tourism business along the Mediterranean Sea has been affected by the conflict and subsequent sanctions. Russian tourists are not coming," Negatu said.
Meanwhile, Negatu noted a few African oil exporting countries might benefit from higher prices of crude oil.
"It has been a big plus for some oil exporting African nations. So, a few African countries which are net exporters of oil have benefited," Negatu said.
However, such oil exporters as Nigeria are not exempt from the impact of the ongoing Ukraine crisis as it is incurring high cost to import refined petroleum products, he added.
BRUSSELS - The European Union (EU) is allocating a further 50 million euros ($54.03 million) of humanitarian aid to people affected by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, according to a EU statement issued on Sunday.
Some 45 million euros of the funding is allocated for humanitarian projects in Ukraine, and 5 million euros to projects in neighboring Moldova, which has taken in hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees since the start of the conflict.
The new funding, which brings the EU's total humanitarian aid funding in response to the conflict to 143 million euros, will address the most pressing humanitarian needs by providing emergency medical services, access to safe drinking water and hygiene, shelter and protection, cash assistance and support against gender-based violence, according to the statement.
"As heavy fighting and missile strikes continue to destroy critical civilian infrastructure, humanitarian needs in Ukraine remain extremely high," the EU said in the statement.
WARSAW/MOSCOW－NATO has been very much engaged in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine with the transferring of massive weapons to Ukraine, massing many troops in Eastern Europe, and welcoming Sweden and Finland to join the alliance.
Analysts said NATO's disregard for Russia's legitimate concerns on security issues and its continued expansion is the root cause of the outbreak and escalation of this conflict. If it continues to narrow down the small buffer zone left between Russia and itself, the situation will undoubtedly worsen.
NATO's eastern flank usually refers to the three Baltic countries, namely Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria.
Before the Russia-Ukraine conflict escalated, NATO deployed one combat force in each of the three Baltic countries and Poland, and implemented a rotation mechanism with nonpermanent garrison troops there.
But NATO has doubled the size of the four above-mentioned combat forces and declared four new NATO battle groups in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia at the NATO summit held last month.
Existence questioned
NATO is seen by many as a Cold War vestige, and has been questioned over the necessity of its existence after the end of the Cold War.
The military alliance promised in the 1990s that it would not expand "one inch eastward", according to former US secretary of state James Baker. However, led by the United States, NATO has expanded eastward five times since 1999, increasing the number of member countries from 16 to 30.
In addition to strengthening deployments on the eastern flank, NATO is recruiting new members on the north wing. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has repeatedly said that if Finland and Sweden apply to join the alliance, NATO will welcome them and ensure that their entrance will be accepted soon.
Some analysts say that before the escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Russia had repeatedly communicated and confirmed to both the US and NATO of its red line, but both disregarded it.
Dmitry Belik, a member of Russia's State Duma Committee on International Affairs, said last week that NATO seeks to build up its military presence near the Russian borders, but the entry of Finland and Sweden into NATO will not benefit these countries.
"This issue seriously affects our security, so we will be forced to take retaliatory steps," he told the Izvestia newspaper.
According to military expert Viktor Litovkin, in the event that Finland and Sweden decide to join NATO, Russia will justifiably strengthen the Russian-Finnish border, as well as the entire water area of the Gulf of Finland.
"Russia will have to strengthen ground forces and air defense, deploy significant naval forces in the Gulf of Finland in the event of Finland and Sweden joining the alliance," the expert noted.
Xinhua
MOSCOW - Russia's forces have destroyed an ammunition plant in Ukraine's Kyiv region, the Russian Defense Ministry said Sunday.
"During the night, high-precision air-based missiles destroyed an ammunition factory near Brovary (city) in the Kyiv region," ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told a daily briefing.
He added that 29 militants, including foreign mercenaries, were eliminated during the rescue of Russian hostages from a mosque in Mariupol city in eastern Ukraine.
The ministry said Russian forces have destroyed 134 aircraft, 249 anti-aircraft missile systems, 470 unmanned aerial vehicles, 2,290 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 254 multiple rocket launchers, 992 field artillery and mortars, and 2,166 units of special military vehicles belonging to the Ukrainian forces.
MOSCOW - The entire urban area of Mariupol city in eastern Ukraine has been fully cleared of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and foreign mercenaries, the Russian military said Saturday.
The remnants of the resistant forces have been blocked inside the Azovstal iron and steel works plants, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told a briefing. He said 1,464 Ukrainian servicemen have surrendered during the fighting in the city.
As a key port city on the Azov Sea, Mariupol is witnessing one of the worst violence in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said Friday that its forces were still fighting against Russians in Mariupol after almost seven weeks since the city was besieged.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that the elimination of Ukrainian troops in Mariupol would put an end to any negotiations with Russia.
KYIV - The Kyiv City administration on Saturday asked residents to delay their return to the capital city over security and humanitarian issues.
Russian forces have renewed bombardment of Kyiv, the city administration said in a statement on Telegram, urging people not to ignore the air raid sirens.
Besides, the traffic jams caused by the increased number of people, who return to Kyiv, disrupt the deliveries of humanitarian aid and the work of emergency and communal services, the statement said.
Earlier in the day, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that one person was killed and several people were injured in a rocket strike on the city.
The Russian Defence Ministry said on Friday that Russia will expand the scale of its missile strikes on Kyiv in response to any Ukrainian forces' attacks or sabotage on Russian territory. In an interview with CNN, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said about 2,500 to 3,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed in the conflict with Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has declared that about 2,500 to 3,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed in the conflict with Russia.
In an interview with CNN on Friday, Zelensky said that some 10,000 Ukrainian servicemen have been injured in the hostilities, with many of them receiving critical wounds.
On March 12, Zelensky said that at least 1,300 Ukrainian servicemen were killed in the conflict with Russia.
MOSCOW - The Russian Foreign Ministry announced on Saturday that 13 top officials of Britain, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson, have been barred from entering Russia.
"This step was taken as a response to London's unbridled information and political campaign aimed at isolating Russia internationally, creating conditions for containing our country and strangling the domestic economy," the ministry said in a statement.
British Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary Dominic Raab, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, and Defense Secretary Ben Wallace are also blacklisted among others.
The ministry said the entry ban will be expanded in the near future to more British politicians and parliamentarians who pursue an anti-Russian policy.
