As Chinese President Xi Jinping left Moscow on Wednesday morning after a two-day trip to Russia, the International Monetary Fund announced on Tuesday March 21 that it had reached an agreement with Ukraine for four-year financing of worth around $15.6 billion, providing the funds the country needs as it continues to defend itself against Russian invasion.
On the ground, while the fighting continues in Bakhmout where the Ukrainian president went this morning, four people were killed in an attack by Russian drones which occurred overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday in the Kiev region, indicated in the morning the regional military administration.
President Zelensky visits the front near Bakhmout
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the frontline in the Bakhmout area on Wednesday, the epicenter of the fighting in eastern Ukraine, his press service said.
“Donetsk region. Frontline positions of the Ukrainian military in the direction of Bakhmout. Honored to be there today and to decorate our heroes,” the president said in a message on Telegram, posting a video of the trip.
Four dead in drone attack
Four people were killed in a Russian drone attack that hit a vocational high school in the Kiev region overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, according to a new report announced by the authorities. “More than twenty deadly Iranian drones” launched against Ukraine, “as well as missiles, numerous bombardments. All this is just the last night of Russian terror”, denounced on Twitter the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemning ” criminal strikes”.
In total, Russia launched 21 drones against Ukraine in an attack that began shortly before midnight, the Ukrainian Air Force said, adding it shot down 16.
War in Ukraine: the situation on March 21
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A 15.6 billion dollar aid package from the IMF
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced on Tuesday that it had reached an agreement with the Ukrainian government for the establishment of an aid plan for a total amount of 15.6 billion dollars. The plan should make it possible to “support the gradual economic recovery while creating the conditions for long-term growth in a context of post-conflict reconstruction and on the way to accession to the European Union” (EU), has the IMF said in a statement.
The agreement will be presented “in the coming weeks” to the Fund’s Board of Directors for final validation. “Beyond the horrific human cost, the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to have a devastating effect on the economy: GDP fell by 30% in 2022, a large share of the apparatus industry was destroyed and poverty soared,” IMF mission chief Gavin Gray said in the statement.
Ukraine will receive American Abrams tanks by autumn
The United States will deliver Abrams tanks to Ukraine by fall, much faster than initially estimated, while Patriot air defense systems will also arrive on an “accelerated schedule”, said the Pentagon on Tuesday. In coordination with kyiv, Washington “made the decision to provide the M1A1 model of the Abrams tank,” General Pat Ryder, spokesman for the US Department of Defense, told reporters. This “will allow us to significantly accelerate delivery schedules and deliver this important capacity to Ukraine by the fall of this year,” he added.
According to the spokesman, the tanks will give Ukraine “a capability very similar to that of the M1A2”, which Washington had originally planned to provide, but declined to go into detail about the differences between the two models.
The Russian Navy “repelled” a drone attack on the port of Sevastopol
The Russian navy “repelled” a drone attack Wednesday on the port of Sevastopol, in Crimea, a peninsula annexed by Moscow, announced the governor of the city. “The Black Sea Fleet repelled a surface drone attack on Sevastopol,” Governor Mikhail Razvojayev, installed by Russia, said on Telegram. “They tried to enter our bay, our sailors fired at them with small arms. The air defense also worked,” he added. Putin and Xi celebrate their “special” relationship with Westerners.
Putin and Xi celebrate their “special” relationship with Westerners
Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping on Tuesday praised the entry into a “new era” of their “special” relationship with the West, the Russian president cautiously supporting the Chinese plan to settle the conflict in Ukraine, while accusing Kiev of rejecting it. The Chinese initiative, which advocates peace talks, includes elements that can “serve as a basis for a peaceful settlement (of the conflict), when they are ready for it in the West and in Kiev”, launched Vladimir Putin. “However, we do not currently observe such a disposition on their side”, he added, alongside Xi Jinping who, for his part, stressed that Beijing was “for peace and dialogue ” in Ukraine.
In this context, Vladimir Putin announced on Tuesday that he had reached an agreement with Xi Jinping on the gigantic Siberian Force 2 gas pipeline project, which will allow Russia to supply 50 billion cubic meters of additional gas per year.
In Kiev, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he “invited” China to be part of the settlement of the conflict and “wait for its response”, adding “to receive signals but nothing concrete”. Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping were speaking after a summit in the Kremlin which, in the absence of a breakthrough on Ukraine, aimed above all to demonstrate the solidity of relations between Russia and China, in the context of high tensions between these countries and Westerners.
Zelensky announces that he will take part in videoconference at the G7
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has announced that he will take part by videoconference in the G7 summit scheduled for May in Hiroshima, Japan. “I have accepted the invitation (…) and I will participate in the G7 summit in Hiroshima in an online format,” Volodymyr Zelensky said at a press conference in Kyiv alongside Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. visit to Ukraine.
Russia ‘will retaliate’ if London supplies kyiv with depleted uranium ammunition, Putin says
Russia will “retaliate” if London supplies Kiev with munitions containing depleted uranium, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, threatening on Tuesday to “retaliate” if London supplies Ukraine with munitions containing depleted uranium. in response to statements to this effect from a British official. “Today we learned that the United Kingdom (…) announced not only the delivery of tanks to Ukraine but also shells containing depleted uranium (…) If this happens, Russia will be forced to retaliate,” Vladimir Putin said. “It seems that the West has really decided to fight Russia to the last Ukrainian, not in words but in deeds,” he continued.
