Ukraine updates: EU approves new sanctions against Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised his country's air force for shooting down seven Russian fighter jets. 

The Sukhoi fighters were shot down within a week, Zelenskyy said in his evening address. "I am grateful to our air force and all those who protect our airspace."  

He added that one of the most important tasks in the war is to protect Ukrainian airspace and positions on the frontline from Russian air and missile strikes.

Ahead of the second anniversary of the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, Zelenskyy also announced significant new security agreements with Kyiv's allies. 

Ukraine recently signed security agreements with Britain, Germany and France. Zelenskyy said more such agreements would follow in the coming weeks.

In a bid to respond to the farmers' concerns, European Union member states on Wednesday backed proposals from Brussels for "safeguards" to prevent cheap Ukrainian agricultural imports from the flooding the market and undercutting Polish products.

The commission's proposal envisions "quick remedial action in case of significant disruptions to the EU market."

For the most sensitive products — poultry, eggs and sugar — an "emergency brake" would be used to stop future imports from rising beyond the average volumes of 2022 and 2023.

After the green light from the majority of member states the proposal will now have to be negotiated in the European Parliament before it can go into force.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has invited Polish politicians to meet him at the two counties' shared border to resolve a blockade by Polish farmers.

The farmers are protesting against cheap Ukrainian agricultural imports into the European Union that they argue are undercutting their own produce, and Zelenskyy says their roadblocks are hindering the supply of western weapons to the Ukrainian armed forces as the two-year anniversary of the full-scale Russian invasion approaches.

Poland, a member of NATO and the EU, has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine, accepting unlimited numbers of refugees and providing Ukraine with weaponry. Poles, like Ukrainians, share a common history of Russian oppression since the days of the
Soviet Union and even before.

But protests have flared up on the Polish side of their shared border over several months, often involving either farmers or hauliers, who have similar complaints about special dispensations issued amid the war for truck drivers.

On Tuesday, a tractor at a protest in the southern Polish region of Silesia controversially carried a Soviet flag and a banner that read: "Putin, put things in order with Ukraine, Brussels, and our rulers."

Poland's government pledged a swift investigation, its farmers' union sought to distance itself from the message.

You can read our full story on the Polish protests on Wednesday here. 

The G20 foreign ministers are expected to meet in Rio De Janeiro on Wednesday, with global conflicts on the agenda.

Although the Israel-Hamas war will be discussed, Russia's invasion of Ukraine will also feature heavily in the talks.

The meeting comes almost exactly two years since Russia's assault on its neighbor began on February 24, 2022.  

Mauricio Carvalho Lyrio, who works for the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is Brazil's G20 sherpa, told journalists that the "proliferation of conflicts is unprecedented."

Under leftist Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil has steered a moderate course on Ukraine. Both Brazil and Russia belong to the BRICs group of developing countries. 

Lula has earlier suggested that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is equally to blame for the Russian invasion, citing Ukraine's NATO aspirations. 

The Brazilian stance of moderation on the issue could have an impact on discussions during the G20 event. Lula has frequently pushed for negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will also both be seated across the table during the summit. Blinken and Lavrov both talked to each other briefly during the previous G20 event last September in New Delhi. 

In addition, the recent death of Alexei Navalny will likely be heavily discussed at the summit.

The European Union has approved its 13th package of sanctions against Russia, according to the Belgian presidency of the Council of the EU.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Belgium called it "one of the broadest approved by the EU."

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the latest round of sanctions keeps "the pressure high on the Kremlin."

EU sources in Brussels said on Wednesday that the new package adds nearly 200 entities and individuals to existing sanctions lists, but that no fresh sanctions would be imposed on particular sectors of Russia's economy. 

The AFP news agency said it had earlier seen a draft proposal that included export restrictions on three mainland Chinese firms for supplying equipment to Russia's military, and the blacklisting of North Korea's defense minister for supplying missiles to Moscow.

The package will be formally approved in time for the second anniversary of the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

Ukraine has rebuked a claim by Russia that it lost control of the village of Krynky, which lies on the eastern side of the Dnipro River in the southern Kherson region.  

"We officially inform that this information is not true," the command of the Ukrainian military on the southern front wrote on Telegram. "The defense forces of Ukraine continue to hold their positions (in Krynky)." 

Ukraine says the Russian military has attacked Krynky, but the Russians took "significant losses" and were forced to withdraw.  

Russia gaining control of Krnyky would be a major boost for Moscow's territorial aspirations in Kherson, as it already controls much of the region. 

Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany Oleksii Makeiev thanked Berlin for helping his country fend off Russia's ongoing invasion. 

"Under Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Germany has taken a leading role in supporting our country. I am very grateful for that," Makeiev said in remarks to the Funke Mediengruppe, a media firm which owns newspapers across Germany.

Makeiev's remarks come as the German governing coalition is divided on the issue of sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine. Scholz, who belongs to the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), is in a governing coalition with the environmentalist Greens and the business-focused Free Democratic Party (FDP).    

This week, the conservative opposition Christian Democratic Union and its sister party the Christian Social Union, will put forward a motion calling for the powerful Taurus missiles to be delivered to Ukraine. Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, a member of the FDP and chair of the Defense Committee of the Bundestag, has said she will support the measure. 

The plenary heads of the SPD, FDP and Greens have urged "the delivery of additional, necessary long-range weapons systems and ammunition" to Ukraine.  

Scholz, however, has been reluctant to send the Taurus cruise missiles, perhaps due to fears that it could cause escalation with Russia. Taurus missiles can hit targets up to 500 kilometers (310 miles) away.

In his remarks to the Funke Mediengruppe, Makeiev expressed hope that more weapons would be sent.

"For a long time, it was also said that the [Leopard] tanks would not be delivered. But then at some point they did arrive. The same applies to systems that were never publicly discussed," Makeiev said.  

The war in Ukraine has cost Germany more than €200 billion ($216.3 billion), according to an economic analysis.

"The economic costs for Germany after two years of war in Ukraine are likely to be significantly higher than €200 billion," the president of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), Marcel Fratzcher, told the Rheinische Post regional daily on Wednesday.

"Above all, high energy costs have reduced growth in Germany by 2.5%, or €100 billion, in 2022 and by a similar amount in 2023," he said.

Fratzcher said that "escalating geopolitical and geoeconomic conflicts, especially with China" have brought about further costs to Germany.

The head of DIW said that the costs of the war in Ukraine were hitting people with lower incomes especially hard, as they are experiencing "two to three times higher inflation than people with higher incomes."

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Moscow has no intention of deploying nuclear weapons in space.

"Our position is quite clear and transparent: we have always been and remain categorically opposed to the deployment of nuclear weapons in space," Putin said. "Just the opposite, we are urging everyone to adhere to all the agreements that exist in this sphere."

The statement came after the White House said that Russia had obtained a "troubling" anti-satellite weapon capability, although the weapon is not operational yet.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby said this would violate the international Outer Space Treaty. He did not comment on whether the weapon is nuclear-capable.

The treaty prohibits "nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction" in orbit or the stationing of "weapons in outer space in any other manner." It has been signed by 130 countries, including Russia.

Putin said that Russia has only developed space capabilities that other countries, including the US, already have. "And they know it," Putin declared.

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said: "We haven't deployed any nuclear weapons in space or any elements of them to use against satellites or to create fields where satellites can't work efficiently."

Shoigu suggested that the White House made the accusations in order to spur Congress to support Ukraine aid and to pressure  Moscow into reentering nuclear arms control talks.

Putin said he could enter future talks with the US, but that this was conditional on Washington not aiming for Russia's "strategic defeat."

"The US and the West, for one thing, are calling for Russia's strategic defeat, while, on the other hand, they would like to have a dialogue on strategic stability, pretending that those things aren't connected," he said. "It won't work."

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that the world will hold Putin accountable as the war nears its second anniversary.

She made the comments shortly before departing for a meeting of the foreign ministers of the G20 countries in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

"If Putin believes that after two years the world will forget who is responsible for the war in Ukraine and its dramatic global consequences, he is mistaken," Baerbock said.

"We will never abandon the basic principles of the United Nations and will stand firmly by Ukraine — for as long as necessary and until its people can live in peace and freedom again," she said.

"With our humanity and commitment to international law we push back against the ruthlessness of actors such as the Russian government, who are only interested in the right of the strongest," Baerbock said.

She added that the whole world will benefit if states stick to the rules-based international order.

Baerbock said the G20 was founded in the belief "that joint solutions are possible if we stand together and join forces" and called for "finally dusting off old, entrenched structures and making our international institutions fit for a world in upheaval."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is expected to attend the G20 meeting.

sdi/ab (AFP, dpa, Reuters, AP)