Ukraine Financial News

Ukraine, trade and investment are expected to dominate Chinese leader Xi Jinping's first trip to Europe in five years, as the Asian giant rebuilds its foreign relations after a prolonged absence during the Covid-19 pandemic. Xi will start the tour in Paris on Monday, meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, who has been stressing the idea of European strategic autonomy from the U.S. On a visit to Beijing last year, Macron courted controversy by saying France would not necessarily always align with the U.S. in foreign policy, an apparent reference to American support for the self-governing republic of Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory to be annexed by force if necessary.

Iran and Russia are working on CBDC and “digital financial asset” (DFA)-powered trade solutions, an Iranian official has confirmed.

Ukrainian energy workers are struggling to repair the damage from intensifying airstrikes aimed at pulverizing Ukraine’s energy grid

China and Russia to commit to the use of nuclear weapons by only humans and not technology supported by automatic systems such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), as per a report on Independent. Underlining the importance of it, Paul Deans who serves in the State Department’s Arms Control Division stated that the US has a clear commitment to this principle and was supported by Britain and France, in this regard. “We would welcome a similar statement from China and the Russian Federation” said Dean who is the Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Arms Control, Deterrence and Stability.

The United States has imposed new sanctions on hundreds of companies and people tied to Russia’s weapons development program, as well as more than a dozen Chinese entities accused of helping Moscow find workarounds to earlier penalties

China on Thursday said it would take "necessary measures" after the United States announced fresh sanctions aimed at crippling Russia's military and industrial capabilities, punishing companies in China and elsewhere that help Moscow acquire weapons for its war in Ukraine. In a sweeping package announced on Wednesday, the US treasury department targeted nearly 300 entities in Russia, China and other countries accused of supporting President Vladimir Putin's invasion. «The Chinese side urges the US to stop smearing and containing China and stop wantonly implementing illegal and unilateral sanctions,» a foreign ministry spokesman said in a message to AFP.

The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) took action against a developer at OKO Design Bureau on May 1, a Russia-based drone maker. OFAC sanctioned the developer and added three crypto addresses associated with the firm to the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list.

net loss of 629 billion roubles ($6.9 billion) in 2023, its first annual loss in more than 20 years, amid dwindling gas trade with Europe, once its main sales market. The results highlight the dramatic decline of Gazprom, which since the collapse of the Soviet Union has been one of Russia's most powerful companies, often used as a leverage to solve disputes with its neighbours, such as Ukraine and Moldova.

Yaroslav Vasinskyi, a Ukrainian national known as  “ Rabotnik, ”  has been handed a prison sentence of 13 years and  seven months for his role in ransomware attacks.

Plans to use a renovated cruise ship to house more than 600 workers as they build a liquefied natural gas facility near Squamish, B.C., have been voted down by the local council.The ship arrived in B.C. waters in January after a 40-day journey from Estonia, where it had sheltered Ukrainian refugees, but Woodfibre LNG didn’t obtain a permit from the district to operate the so-called “floatel.”Squamish councillors voted three to four against a one-year permit at a meeting on Tuesday that raised concerns about the safety of women and girls, traffic issues, waste management and potential natural hazards.Woodfibre wanted workers to start living on the ship this spring on the shores of Howe Sound, outside Squamish.The Woodfibre website shows the B.C.

Russia's Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has issued directives to ramp up weapons production for the war in Ukraine, following the recent approval of a delayed multibillion-dollar military aid package for the Ukrainian government by the United States, Al Jazeera reported. In a meeting with Russia's top military officials on Wednesday, Shoigu emphasised the imperative to enhance the volume, quality, and speed of arms production. He also instructed for the repair of units stationed on the front lines in Ukraine's eastern and southern regions to enhance their operational effectiveness, the Ministry of Defence said on the Telegram messaging app. «To maintain the required pace of the offensive… it is necessary to increase the volume and quality of weapons and military equipment supplied to the troops, primarily weapons,» Shoigu said.

US State Department accused Russia Wednesday of having used a chemical weapon against Ukrainian forces in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, while also announcing fresh sanctions against Moscow. In addition to the chemical agent chloropicrin, Russia also used «riot control agents (tear gas) as a method of warfare in Ukraine, also in violation of the CWC,» the department said in a factsheet. «The use of such chemicals is not an isolated incident, and is probably driven by Russian forces' desire to dislodge Ukrainian forces from fortified positions and achieve tactical gains on the battlefield,» the State Department said.

new sanctions on hundreds of firms and people tied to Russia's weapons development program, more than a dozen Chinese firms accused of helping Russia find workarounds to sanctions and individuals tied to the death of Russian dissident Alexey Navalny. The sanctions imposed by the Treasury and State departments target Russia’s military-industrial base, chemical weapons programs and people and firms in third countries that help Russia acquire weapons components as its invasion of Ukraine has entered its third year. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the action “will further disrupt and degrade Russia’s war efforts by going after its military industrial base and the evasion networks that help supply it." The sanctions come as the Senate gave final approval to legislation barring imports of Russian uranium, boosting U.S.

The miracle of Ukraine’s most dominant soccer club over the past decade isn’t so much its continued success while the country has been at war. Nor is it the team’s reconstruction after losing all of its foreign players. The real surprise for Shakhtar Donetsk, based in the Donbas region of Eastern Ukraine, is that it has kept winning despite not playing a single home game since 2014.

Sergei Shoigu ordered more, and swifter, delivery of weapons for Moscow's military operation in Ukraine, the Russian defence ministry said on Wednesday. Russia, which calls its war in Ukraine a special military operation, now controls just under a fifth of Ukraine's territory, the bulk seized during the first months of the war it launched in February 2022. At a meeting with the top military command for Moscow's fight in Ukraine, the chief of the general staff, Valery Gerasimov, who is in charge of the operation, delivered a report to Shoigu, the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app.

Odesa has left at least five individuals dead and more than 30 wounded, as confirmed by Ukrainian authorities, CNN reported. A video footage, released by Ukraine's Prosecutor General, captures the harrowing moment when numerous bomblets erupted in quick succession near the seafront, unleashing chaos and devastation.

Crimea said on Tuesday that long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) were shot down over the peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014. Sergei Aksyonov posted on Telegram a photo showing what he described as undetonated submunitions of ATACMS missiles. Aksyonov did not specify when and how many missiles had been shot down.

Also read: India's oil imports from Russia drops 19% in February, Saudi Arabia 2nd largest supplier According to an ICRA report based on data from the ministry of commerce and industry, the value of India's oil imports fell by 15.2% year-on-year to $162.4 billion during April-February of FY24. This decrease could be attributed to a combination of factors, including a reduction in international crude oil prices and savings from the purchase of discounted Russian crude oil.

International news in India at the beginning of 2024 was dominated by a publicized phase of diplomatic tension between India and the Maldives following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the Union territory of Lakshadweep. This was followed by an order by the government of Maldives asking Indian troops to leave the archipelago nation. However, this wasn’t the first time the relationship between the Maldives and India has been disturbed.

WASHINGTON—Donald Trump claims that neither the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel nor Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine would have happened on his watch, and that the world was an oasis of calm and stability when he was president. The reality was more complicated.

Saudi Arabia on Sunday called for regional «stability», warning of the effects of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war on global economic sentiment at the start of a summit attended by a host of Gaza mediators. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Palestinian leaders and high-ranking officials from other countries trying to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas are on the guest list for the summit in Riyadh, capital of the world's biggest crude oil exporter.