Poland and Ukraine agree on grain transport

Posted by: 03/10/2023 – 09:01Changed: 03/10/2023 – 11:19

5 minutes

• 10:52 am: Ruble falls again, crosses 100 per dollar

Despite the central bank’s move to tackle inflation and the weakening of the national currency, the Russian currency fell again and traded above 100 rubles to the dollar.

The ruble has struggled for months as a result of international sanctions over the attack on Ukraine, particularly weighing on people’s purchasing power.

On the Moscow Stock Exchange, at 7:03 a.m. local time (04:03 GMT) 1 dollar was 100.11 rubles and 1 euro was 104.65 rubles.

The ruble rose slightly later in the day, while trading above 99 to the dollar and 104 to the euro.

• 10:36 am: Warsaw and Kiev announce agreement on “an important issue” of Ukrainian grain smuggling

Warsaw and Kiev announced a decision involving Lithuania, which will speed up the transportation of Ukrainian grain to other countries. This is the first agreement between the two countries since the Polish ban on Ukrainian grain imports was announced in mid-September.

“We have agreed on an important issue,” Polish Agriculture Minister Robert Delusz told reporters after the online trilateral meeting. “Starting tomorrow, Ukrainian-Polish border checks (to be carried out, editor’s note) for grain transit through Lithuania will be carried out on Lithuanian territory, at Lithuanian ports.”

• 10:17 am: Kharkiv to build country’s first underground school

Kharkiv, Ukraine’s northeastern metropolis, will build the country’s first completely underground school to protect students from Russia’s frequent bomb and missile attacks, the city’s mayor said.

“Such a shelter would allow thousands of Kharkiv children to continue their education in safety, even in the face of missile threats,” Mayor Ihor Derekov wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

While many schools in frontline areas were forced to teach online throughout the war, Kharkiv had already set up about 60 separate classrooms in its metro stations before the war began. The school year, which began on September 1, accommodated more than 1,000 children. Must read there.

• 7:50 am: Ukraine bombards Russian village with cluster bombs

Ukraine dropped cluster bombs on a Russian village near the Ukrainian border, damaging several houses, the governor of Russia’s Bryansk region said.

According to preliminary reports, there were no casualties in the village of Klimovo, Alexander Bogomas said on the Telegram messaging app.

Ukraine received cluster munitions from the US, but promised to use them only to eliminate concentrations of enemy soldiers.

• 7:15 am: Japan is embarrassed by the visit of one of its senators to Russia

A pro-Russian Japanese senator visited Moscow for the first time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began last year, surprising the Japanese government, which on Tuesday criticized the private initiative.

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced on Monday a face-to-face meeting between Russian Embassy Deputy Head Andrei Rudenko and Japanese Innovation Party Senator Muneo Suzuki.

Japanese government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno said during a regular press conference on Tuesday, “Mr Suzuki did not inform the government about his visit to Russia.

• 7:44 am: Ukrainian Air Force launches 29 drones and one cruise missile at Russia.

Ukraine shot down 29 of 31 drones and one cruise missile launched by Russia, most of which targeted the Mykolaiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions, its air force said.

Overnight attacks took place in several waves and lasted more than three hours, the southern command of Ukrainian forces.

Reuters could not independently verify this information.

Ahead of a meeting of European foreign ministers in Kew, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that “success depends”.[ait] of [la] Cooperation between the European Union and Ukraine.

According to Catherine Colonna, the head of French diplomacy, Western support remains intact.

With AFP and Reuters