May 2, 2022 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

US Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger has announced a joint resolution that will allow the US Armed Forces to be used to protect Ukraine's territorial integrity if Russia uses weapons of mass destruction. Adam Kinzinger, a member of the House of Representatives, Republican and former US Air Force pilot, has announced introduction of a resolution providing for US troops to defend Ukraine if russian dictator putin escalates. On his official Congressman's website, the U.S. lawmaker said on May 1: “I present this AUMF (Resolution on the Use of Armed Forces) as a clear red line so that the Administration can take appropriate action in the event of russia's use of chemical, biological and / or nuclear weapons. We must stand up for humanity, and we must be with our allies”. Kinzinger reminded that US President Joe Biden has repeatedly stressed the need to stop putin. In this regard, he stressed that such statements are important, but it is also important to take practical steps. “Therefore, the commander-in-chief of the world's largest military must have the authority and means to take the necessary action”, stressed the Congressman.

Canada and its allies must work to deprive russia of its current role in the UN Security Council. This was stated by former West Block Supreme Allied Commander (2013-2016) Philip Breedlove. Breedlove said that russia should be expelled from the G20, but not limited to this. “We need to remove russia from the world stage because of the way they are waging this war”, said the US General, the former Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. “Now some people say that we cannot exclude russia from the UN Security Council. Why not? If now is not the time, if this is not the way to change it, it is a shame for having not tried”, Breedlove said.

This is not the first time the former NATO official has called for radical actions. In March, he called for a no-fly zone over Ukraine. He is also not the first to call for a solution to russia's veto in the UN Security Council.

Poland is once again proving that it is one of the greatest allies of the Ukrainian state. At the request of Kyiv, they agreed to act as a guarantor of Ukraine's security, along with other countries. This was announced by Jakub Kumoch, the Head of the International Policy Bureau in the Chancellery of the President of Poland. According to him, Warsaw will not support any peace agreement that would mean Ukraine’s losing its territories. The politician pointed out that after Kyiv's offer to join security guarantee countries, Andrzey Duda and the government decided that Poland “will not shirk its responsibility”. We are currently discussing a draft agreement (on security guarantees for Ukraine). Warsaw is interested only in an agreement which will “guarantee the territorial integrity of Ukraine and its independence and to which Ukrainians will agree”, emphasized Jakub Kumoch.

russia is using a troll factory to spread misinformation about the war in Ukraine on social media, targeting politicians in a number of countries, including the UK and South Africa. “We cannot allow the kremlin and its shadow troll farms to invade our online space with their lies about putin's illegal war. The British government has informed international partners and will continue to work closely with allies and media platforms to undermine russian information operations”, said UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss. The British government refers to an expert study funded by the United Kingdom, which found out how the kremlin's disinformation campaign was designed to manipulate international public opinion about russia's invasion of Ukraine, increase support for Russia and recruit new sympathizers.

The study showed that the troll factory used the Telegram to recruit and coordinate new fans, who then targeted the kremlin's critics on social media, sending them comments in favor of president putin and his war. Among them were high-ranking British ministers and other world leaders. Traces of the operation were found on eight social networking platforms, including Telegram, Twitter, Facebook and TikTok.

May 1, the North Atlantic Alliance launched a large-scale military exercises, Defender of Europe and Rapid Response. They are taking place in Poland and eight other NATO members, the Polish Ministry of Defense said. According to the agency, eight states and 18,000 soldiers from more than 20 countries will take part, and the exercises will last for about a month. The Defense Ministry pointed out that Defender of Europe 2022 is an international joint and regular exercise organized by the US military to increase preparedness and interoperability between allies and partners of the United States and the North Atlantic Alliance. During the exercise, the fighters’ capability of taking part in a joint combat operation will be tested. The exercise will include episodes of long-range tactical movement with overcoming water obstacles and fire training. The joint exercises increase the security of the eastern flank and serve to test NATO procedures for the use of troops and their adaptation to the new challenges of the modern battlefield and deter potential aggressors, the Defense Ministry added. In addition to Poland, the exercise will be attended by the United States, France, Sweden, Germany, Denmark and the United Kingdom.

It is necessary to find a way to help Ukraine organize a humanitarian corridor that will allow food to be transported by sea to other countries. This was stated by Jim McGovern, Chair of the House Rules Committee, a member of the US Congressional delegation to Kyiv, at a briefing in Rzeszow (Poland) after a visit to Ukraine. “We will also continue to fund our international organizations, such as the World Food Program, and we need to find a way to help Ukraine organize a humanitarian corridor that will allow them to transport food by sea to help the world's poorest people”, he said. McGovern stressed that putin's brutal war hits not only on Ukraine but also on the world's most vulnerable people, as Ukraine supplies wheat, corn, oil and more to countries around the world, especially in Africa and the Middle East. The politician also pointed out the role of Ukraine in aid organizations, such as the UN World Food Program. “This war is spreading hunger all over the world. It is aimed at supplying food that causes great pain inside and outside Ukraine. Food prices are rising, energy prices are rising, and this puts us in front of the prospect of famine. What kind of person does that?”, the politicians asked a rhetorical question.

Not a single russian has been invited to the Davos forum this year. The first annual session of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, the first in two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, is unlikely to include russian political or business leaders. “The WEF not only did not invite russians under sanctions, but for the first time since Gorbachev, there will probably be no russian participation in the Forum”, the Swiss German-language newspaper NZZ am Sonntag reported. A spokesperson for the “oscongress” foundation (an organization backed by the russian government) confirmed that “there will be no “House of russia” at the WEF in Davos this year. According to her, there will be no russian representatives in the West at all. In the past, russia’s politicians and economic elite were regular participants in annual sessions of the Davos Forum. According to NZZ, WEF's strategic partners were three large russian companies: “sberbank”, vtb and “gazprom”. This meant that they paid a membership fee of 600,000 Swiss francs each year.

In Reykjavik, the Planning and Transport Commission decided to name one of the city's squares “Kyiv” in support of the Ukrainian people. This was announced by the Ukraine Street campaign, which calls on local residents to support the renaming of streets with russian embassies and consulates to the streets of Ukraine. Officially, the place will have a double name — “Kænugarður / Kýiv-torg”, and in English will be called Kyiv Square. The name of the square in the ancient Icelandic language “Kænugarður” is intended to emphasize the thousand-year history of Kyiv. Kyiv Square lies at the intersection of streets where foreign embassies are located, including the russian one. “In this way, Reykjavik sends a clear signal of support to the Ukrainian people and at the same time reminds us of the long-standing relations between Iceland and Kenugardur (Kyiv)”, said City Councilor Eyor Arnalds.

The Stockholm authorities also decided to call the part of the park where the russian embassy in Sweden is located “the Place of Free Ukraine”.

The European Commission has made an advance payment of 3.5 billion euros to EU member states to help them cope with the arrival of refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine. Payments for REACT-EU were made under the EU's Cohesion’s Action for Refugees in Europe (CARE) initiative. Cohesion and Reform Commissioner Eliza Ferreira said: “The EU is in solidarity with Ukraine against the russian invasion, and with our member states in their efforts to show solidarity by accepting people fleeing the war. Today, we see another concrete result of our solidarity with the mobilization of cohesion funds where they are needed”. The Commissioner for Employment and Social Rights, Nicholas Schmidt, added: “People fleeing the war in Ukraine need immediate support to restore their lives in safety. Through these advance payments, member states can offer food, housing, health care, education, employment assistance and much more to those who need it”.

Following russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine, the EC has mobilized all its efforts to support civilians fleeing the war and to help member states accept and care for them. In particular, it introduced the possibility of flexible mobilization of available resources of “cohesion policy” under the programs for 2014-2020, the possibility of 100% co-financing and proposed to increase by 3.5 billion euros pre-funding under REACT-EU (Recovery Assistance for Cohesion and the Territories of Europe).

The Amsterdam port officials have said they will not unload the Sunny Liger tanker with russian oil. Previously, this vessel was not accepted in any of the Swedish ports.

The Finnish state company Gasum is preparing to give up gas supply due to unwillingness to pay in rubles. The decision will be made by May 20.

Finland is going to fence off russia with a “wall”. Special border barriers are planned to be built in high-risk areas and near state border crossing points.

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Russian occupying troops began looting and mass taking away grain from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. “Russians use early 20th century tactics to steal grain and take it away from Ukraine. To date, there are confirmed facts that hundreds of thousands of tons of grain have been stolen in total from Kherson, Zaporizhia, Luhansk and Donetsk regions. In these areas, almost one and a half million tons of grain are stored in the farm stocks formed for sowing and processing (for making flour, baking bread). This is a significant stock. At international prices, it costs hundreds of millions of dollars. And there is a great risk that it will simply be stolen and taken to russia”, said First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Taras Vysotskyi.

Also in the occupied territories, putin’s troops destroy Ukrainian medical infrastructure, taking equipment to russia, expelling patients and forcing medics to treat russian half-dead soldiers.

Wealthy russians are exchanging expensive real estate in London for housing in Dubai to circumvent the financial restrictions imposed on russia, the Financial Times reported.

Exports of russian gas to foreign countries in the first four months of this year fell by 26.9% to 50.1 billion cubic meters, “gazprom” reported.

Another surprise happened in russia. The fire broke out on the territory of one of the facilities of the ministry of defense of russia near belgorod on the border of three municipalities – borisov and belgorod districts, as well as yakovlev city district.

In kursk region, a railway bridge carrying freight and military trains was destroyed. the governor of kursk region starovoit believes that it was a sabotage.

minister of labor and social protection of belarus irina kostevich spoke about the situation on the labor market under sanctions on the TV channel “belarus 1”. “Today, new challenges and threats from the external contour, they are growing. The market reacted to this. In March-April, we see an increase in forced underemployment, downtime. Teams are rebuilding their work. We switched to weekly monitoring. We have internal branch headquarters so that, seeing the problem in a particular team, we can quickly connect to its solution”, kostevich said.