Dhe Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has criticized the price cap for Russian oil decided by Western countries as too high. With the agreed upper limit of 60 US dollars per barrel (per 159 liters), too much money continues to flow into Russia’s budget and thus into the war against his country, Zelenskyj said in his daily video address on Saturday evening.
Meanwhile, more than nine months after the start of the war, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited neighboring Belarus. And the Baltic NATO member Estonia reports a record arms deal.
Zelenskyj: “It’s a shame that time is lost”
It is only a matter of time before the world has to resort to even tougher sanctions against Moscow, said Zelenskyj, also with a view to the price cap for Russian oil. “It’s a shame that this time is now lost.” The head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Andriy Yermak, had previously called for a price cap of $30 per barrel.
After lengthy negotiations, the EU countries recently agreed on a price cap for Russian oil, and the G7 and Australia followed suit. The states want to force Russia to sell oil below the market price to buyers in other states in the future. The aim is to dry up the Kremlin’s war chest. The agreement reached on Friday provides for an initial price cap of USD 60 per barrel.
Group leader of the Zelenskyj party names conditions
After the French head of state Emmanuel Macron speculated about bringing Russia to the negotiating table with security guarantees, Kyiv also submitted its proposal for these guarantees. Ukraine is ready to start talks with Russia on four conditions, said David Arakhamiya, head of the faction of the Zelenskyi party “Servant of the People”. These are the complete withdrawal from Ukraine, reparations payments, punishment of all war criminals and the “voluntary surrender of all nuclear weapons”. “After that we are ready to sit down at the negotiating table and talk about security guarantees,” Arachamija wrote on Telegram on Saturday evening.
Nasa: Russia has harvested billions worth of Ukrainian wheat
According to the US space agency Nasa, Russia harvested wheat worth around a billion dollars (around 950 million euros) from Ukrainian fields this year. Around 5.8 million tons of wheat have been harvested from fields in Ukraine that are not under the country’s control, said Nasa Harvest, the US space agency’s food security and agriculture program. For the survey, Nasa Harvest uses satellite data and modeling together with several partner institutions.
The scientists involved in the research project estimate that a total of around 26.6 million tons were harvested on Ukrainian territory this year. Although that is less than the record harvest of 33 million tons in the previous year, it is close to the average. However, because of the war, Ukraine had no access to 22 percent of the wheat in the eastern part of the country. A total of around 88 percent of the seed was harvested, which apparently was not the case in many fields on the front lines.
