The Ukraine update: what happened last night
Wagner boss Prigozhin gets really rich with the war
According to research by independent journalists, the head of the Russian private army Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, made a lot of money from the war in Ukraine through contracts with the Ministry of Defense in Moscow. The media portal Moschem objasnit reported on Tuesday that Prigozhin’s companies raked in a record sum of 4.7 billion rubles (about 52 million euros) through these contracts in 2022. In 2021 it was 1.9 billion rubles.
Accordingly, the confidant of President Vladimir Putin earned more money than before the war by feeding soldiers and building barracks for the Ministry of Defense. Prigozhin initially did not comment on the report.
The journalists had compared the financial documents of various companies in Prigozhin. It is true that Prigozhin and the Wagner fighters openly criticized the ministry again and again. The portal, which is co-financed by the Russian businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who lives abroad, says that this does not affect business between private and state structures.
Apart from the orders from the Ministry of Defense, Prigozhin’s companies also receive highly lucrative orders from the Kremlin. According to research by the independent portal Wjorstka, the companies also earned 4.4 billion rubles last year from the supply of food in educational institutions and hospitals. Prigozhin’s army is not only deployed in Ukraine, but also on the African continent.
EU official: Chances of Putin withdrawal are ‘less than zero’
Several senior US and EU officials do not believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin would give up his targets if Ukraine’s counteroffensive is successful. The New York Times quotes an EU official as saying that the probability of Putin’s withdrawal is “less than zero”. Putin would rather mobilize more soldiers to fight in Ukraine than be willing to negotiate.
Celeste Wallander, a senior official at the US Department of Defense, says there is little evidence that Putin will deviate from his strategic goal. He wants to subdue Ukraine – “politically, and probably also completely militarily”. US Security Council spokesman John Kirby told Voice of America that the US is continuing to increase support for Ukraine in anticipation of an escalation of the Russian offensive once the weather in Ukraine improves.
Kiev wants new penalties for Moscow after shelling – night at a glance
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for a further tightening of sanctions against Moscow after new Russian attacks on civilian targets. “A local history museum and surrounding houses became the target of the terrorists,” he said in his evening video address on Tuesday. Two people were killed and ten injured in a rocket attack on the city of Kupyansk in northeastern Ukraine earlier this morning. An international group of experts has drawn up a document aimed at tightening sanctions against Russia, Zelensky said.
“This sanctions document will be on the desks of all the major leaders in the world – political, public and business,” the President said. The sanctions are aimed at the Russian oil and gas sector, but also at the nuclear industry and also hit those who help Russia to circumvent the existing sanctions.
Demands: lower oil price cap, embargo on metals
Zelenskyy referred to the “Action Plan 2.0” presented by the head of his presidential office on Tuesday. Above all, it calls for a reduction in the maximum price for the purchase of Russian oil of the Urals brand from 60 to 45 US dollars (the equivalent of around 41 euros) per barrel.
According to estimates from Kiev, the Russian production costs are currently around 30 US dollars. Urals oil traded above $60 in Moscow on Tuesday. Russia had declared that it did not want to sell below the market price. In addition, import taxes for Russian oil and natural gas are to be introduced by the states of the western sanctions coalition. The proceeds are intended to help finance the planned post-war reconstruction of Ukraine. In addition, an embargo on Russian metals and diamonds is to be imposed.
Ukraine also criticizes the fact that semiconductors important for Russia’s defense industry continue to reach the neighboring country via third countries. Exports to China alone more than doubled in 2022. Kiev is therefore demanding punitive measures against companies that circumvent export bans.
Ukraine wants to completely rebuild six places destroyed by war
However, the Ukrainian government also presented its own development plans. In a pilot project, six villages destroyed in the war are to be restored according to the latest technical and ecological standards. Prime Minister Denys Schmyhal announced at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday that they would be rebuilt “better than before”. Among the settlements is the Kiev suburb of Borodyanka, temporarily occupied by Russian troops, whose ruins have become a symbol of Russia’s destructive war of aggression against Ukraine.
Schmyhal promised that if the experiment was successful, other towns would be built on the same pattern. The money will come from a reconstruction fund. According to Ukrainian censuses, more than 130,000 homes and more than 17,000 apartment buildings have been damaged or destroyed since the Russian invasion 14 months ago.
Lavrov worries about freedom of the press in the US
Meanwhile, the separation of the US broadcaster Fox News from its right-wing moderator Tucker Carlson, who is known for government scolding and false allegations, was used by Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to tip the United States. One can only speculate about the background to this, he said on Tuesday in New York during a visit to the UN headquarters. But it makes sense to reflect on the state of diversity of opinion in the US, which “clearly suffered from it,” Lavrov claimed.
However, a lack of media freedom and diversity of opinion in Russia is a much bigger problem, as shown by Reporters Without Borders’ press freedom rankings: it ranks Russia 155th out of 180 countries, while the US ranks 42nd.
Renewed criticism of grain agreements
In addition, Lavrov also referred to the grain agreement with Ukraine brokered with UN help. The Russian chief diplomat confirmed UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ good will to implement the agreement, but “there are practically no results”. Russia keeps threatening to scrap the grain agreement, which was last extended by 60 days in mid-March.
After the start of its war of aggression, Russia had blocked the neighboring country’s Black Sea ports for months. As Ukraine is one of the largest agricultural exporters, fears grew of a massive increase in food prices and – as a result – a hunger crisis in the poorest countries. Last summer, the United Nations and Turkey then brokered an end to the blockade and made the grain agreement possible.
What will be important on Wednesday
In Ukraine, the Chernobyl disaster is one year old. On April 26, 1986, a reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded. Thousands of people were killed and injured, tens of thousands of people were forcibly relocated, and a radioactive cloud swept across Europe. Although no official dates have been announced on the occasion of the date, the leadership in Kiev will probably use it for commemorative events – especially since there are concerns about the security of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, which is still controlled by Russian units.
