Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday that Kyiv is preparing new reforms as it gears up for a summit with top EU officials at the end of the week.
In his nightly address, Zelensky said the reforms “will change the social, legal and political reality in many ways, making it more human, transparent and effective. But these details will be announced later,” he added.
Ukraine will host European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and other top EU officials on Friday, with hopes high in Kyiv that its application to join the EU will progress quickly.
In other news, US President Joe Biden told reporters he is planning to speak to President Zelensky about future military aid packages amid reports that further assistance could be announced as early as this week.
“We’re going to talk,” Biden said when asked if he has spoken to Zelensky and what he planned to tell him about future assistance requests.
Two US officials briefed on the matter told Reuters Tuesday that the US is preparing to offer Kyiv a $2.2 billion military aid package which is expected to include longer-range rockets for the first time, as well as other munitions and weapons.
Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said Wednesday that regional authorities have registered more than 65,000 Russian war crimes since Moscow’s conflict began nearly a year ago.
“We have all witnessed with horror the evidence of atrocities committed in Bucha, Irpin, Mariupol, Izium, Kherson, Kharkiv regions and other liberated cities and towns,” Kostin said, noting the discoveries of mass burial sites in areas occupied by Russian troops.
“These crimes are not incidental or accidental, they include indiscriminate shelling of civilians, willful killing, torture, conflict-related sexual violence, looting and forced displacement on a massive scale,” he added in remarks at the Georgetown Law School in Washington.
His comments add to an emerging picture of the horrors experienced during nearly a year of war in Ukraine. The conflict has shown few signs of ending soon, even as local and international officials try to probe potential crimes committed over recent months in Ukraine.
In a separate discussion with journalists, Kostin said he believed Kyiv was close to gaining US support to establish a special tribunal to prosecute Russia’s crimes of aggression.
Five ships leave Ukrainian ports under Black Sea Grain Initiative
Five vessels carrying 216,719 metric tons of grain and other food products have left Ukrainian ports, the organization overseeing the export of agricultural products from the country said.
The vessels, carrying wheat and corn, are destined for Spain, Turkey, Portugal, Egypt and China.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative, a deal brokered in July between Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations, eased Russia’s naval blockade and saw three key Ukrainian ports reopen.
So far, more than 690 ships have sailed from Ukrainian ports.
US sanctions 22 in global network supporting Russia’s military
The US Treasury Department announced fresh sanctions against a multinational group of 22 individuals and entities supporting Russia’s military-industrial complex.
The sanctions target the “Zimenkov network”, a Russian sanctions evasion network led by Igor Vladimirovich Zimenkov, an arms dealer based in Russia and Cyprus. The group has worked to supply a Russian company with high-technology devices for use in its war against Ukraine and supported previously sanctioned entities in Russia.
The Zimenkov network has also reached as far as Singapore, Belarus, Bulgaria and Israel. The sanctions block access to all property and interests of the sanctioned individuals and entities owned or in possession of an American on US soil.
Boris Johnson calls on West to send fighter jets to Ukraine ‘as fast as possible’
Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is calling on Western allies to give Ukraine fighter jets and whatever else it needs to combat Russia.
“All I will say is that every time we have said it will be a mistake to give such and such an item of weaponry, we end up doing it and it ends up being the right thing for Ukraine,” Johnson said during an interview with Fox News. The former PM spoke while on a trip to Washington to rally support for Ukraine among members of Congress.
The US and UK recently shot down the idea of sending Western F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, something Kyiv has long been asking for.
“We do not think it is practical to send those jets into Ukraine,” a Downing Street spokesperson said on Tuesday.
Aside from the massive amount of training it would require, many Western leaders also fear that sending such sophisticated and powerful equipment to Ukraine would provoke Russia too much. But Johnson rejected the notion, saying that was the same mindset that preceded many prior decisions to ultimately send other advanced weapons to Ukraine.
“I remember being told it was the wrong idea to give them the anti-tank shoulder-launched missiles. Actually, they were indispensable and the United States, under Donald Trump, gave them the Javelins as well. They were indispensable in the battles to repel the Russian tanks,” he said.
“All I’m saying is save time, save money, save lives. Give the Ukrainians what they need as fast as possible,” Johnson said.
Compiled by Ana Dumbadze
