Day 426 (25 April)
Lavrov heads a UN Security Council meeting and uses the platform to question and criticise the West. While countries state that Russia heading the meetings was hypocritical, this shows how powerless the UN actually is.
Sweden has expelled 5 members of staff in the Russian Embassy.
Their activities on our territory were incompatible with their status as diplomats. Tobias Billstrom (Swedish Foreign Minister).
Norway has expelled 15 Russian diplomats, and in response, Russia is expelling 10 Norwegian diplomats
.
The EU is providing €1.5 billion to Ukraine to assist them in running the country and to maintain basic infrastructure.
The ICC (International Criminal Court) and Europol (European union agency for law-enforcement cooperation) have signed a working cooperation agreement, to encourage information exchange, experience and expertise in The Hague.
Day 427 (26 April)
Zelenskyy speaks to Xi Jinping of China to discuss global issues. One must remember that it is Zelenskyy that has approached China, and who had been rebuffed for several months now. However, in the public it looks hopeful with Zelenskyy appointing Pablo Ryabikin as ambassador to Beijing , and China has appointed Li Hui (Special Representative of the Chinese Government on Eurasian Affairs) to represent the special delegation to address the Ukrainian conflict, and will visit Kyiv. However, he was a former ambassador in Russia and is unlikely to be impartial. One must remember that China needs trade to survive and after Covid-19 it has struggled.
China states that it is on the side of peace, but has remained ‘neutral’ and has also vetoed resolutions in Russia’s favour. Putin also visited China and the two countries continue to trade and create stronger business ties which is incompatible with a country who seeks to mediate for peace in a fair manner. If anything, this will show which side China is really on, although we all know that it supports Russia but cannot say that for fear of sanctions from the West.
The President of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel has stated that China cannot be trusted as a mediator, claiming that the war is profitable for China. China has done little in terms of assisting Ukraine, so it’s hard to see how they can claim to seek peace when they have done nothing except deny they have supported Russia with weapons, and have not imposed sanctions against Russia.
There has been another POW swap with 44 Ukrainians returning home. Some are from the battles in Mariupol, and include 2 civilians that the Russians had detained.
A maintenance centre to repair Leopard tanks will be installed in Gliwice, Poland in May.
Russian spies in embassies has been an issue from the start of the war as the diplomats have diplomatic immunity. Over a period of time, some Russians were expelled and Russia retaliated and forced diplomats to leave Russia from the countries that expelled their people. Now, with Finland joining NATO and Sweden on the brink, in a joint Scandinavian investigation, at least 38 Russian diplomats have been identified as potential spies.
Russia is planning to infiltrate border countries through Russian NGOs, to try and use propaganda to criticise NATO, and to gain support. The main target is the Baltic states where there is most support for Ukraine, and the premise is to brainwash people, and is part of the Russian plan to re-acquire the former Soviet states.
Today is the 37th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, and it is a reminder that the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is on the brink of becoming another nuclear disaster. If the Russians do not leave the plant.
Stoltenberg has reiterated that NATO will support Ukraine for as long as it takes.
NATO stands with Ukraine. Today after as long as it takes.
We do not know when the war will end, but we know that Russian aggression is toxic and the pattern must be stopped once and for all.
Russia threatens to leave the Black Sea Grain Initiative again unless the West lifts sanctions. They are behaving like a spoilt child who will continue to dish out threats until they get what they want.
The FBI and US companies are assisting Ukraine in collating data and evidence of war crimes. They will help track cellphone data and geolocation data to find the specific people and units who carried out acts of aggression.
Two Russian SU – 27, fighter jets flew from Russia, across international airspace over the Baltic Sea without their transponders on (so they can’t be located), and were intercepted by German and UK eurofighter jets.