U.S. Congress votes to strip Russia’s trade status, ban oil and gas imports after atrocities in Bucha https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/07/russia-ukraine-live-updates.html?__source=androidappshare
“I came here today to discuss three most important things: weapons, weapons, and weapons,” Kuleba said in a tweet.
Reports of rape and torture against civilians by Vladimir Putin’s forces drew strong condemnation from G-7 members, who voted to remove Russia from the U.N. Human Rights Council.
The atrocities also galvanized action in the U.S. where Congress voted to strip Russia of its most favored nation trading status and to ban its oil and gas imports. U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to quickly sign both into law.
EIU warns Asia-Pacific remains vulnerable to fluctuations in commodity prices, despite less direct exposure to the war
Asia-Pacific countries may be less exposed to the war in Ukraine compared with other regions, but they could still see less direct hits in areas ranging from commodities to tourism and weapons, according to a new report from the Economic Intelligence Unit.
Russia and Ukraine account for a significant proportion of global supply of some food commodities, such as wheat and fertilizer. Any jump in prices will be a concern for Asia, given the region’s high levels of dependence on energy and agricultural commodity imports, warned the EIU.
Russia is also the world’s second-largest arms supplier and is a major source of arms for China, India and Vietnam, the research firm pointed out.
The report also listed which countries in Asia-Pacific would be most and least affected.
The Biden administration has approved more than $1.7 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in late February, according to the White House. The U.S. has provided a total of $2.4 billion to Ukraine since the beginning of Biden’s presidency.
The Pentagon also confirmed that all of the anti-armor and anti-air systems from the two weapons packages announced in March have been delivered to Ukraine. The Defense Department added that the U.S. is working to “identify additional weapons systems to help the Ukrainian military.”
Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy has requested “longer-range anti-aircraft systems,” the Pentagon said.
More than 30 nations have sent Ukraine security assistance. Here is the firepower the U.S. has committed thus far, according to the Defense Department:
U.S. ambassador to UN references devastating photo in highlighting the toll Russia’s war has taken
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield shared a somber observation on the life-shattering toll Russia’s war in Ukraine will take long after the conflict ends.
“Yesterday, I saw a photo, taken by an AP photojournalist in Kyiv, that has stuck with me in particular. It’s of a six-year-old boy, standing in a garden next to his mother’s grave,” Thomas-Greenfield said in her address to the international forum.
She said the photo stuck with her because, “one day, Ukraine’s infrastructure will be rebuilt and the rubble will be cleared,” referencing the eventual end to Russia’s war. “But there will be no way to rebuild the lives that Russia has destroyed. We cannot bring back those who have perished, Ukrainian mothers, fathers, sons and daughters,” she said.
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