Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for further tightening of sanctions against Moscow following new Russian attacks on civilian targets. "A local history museum and surrounding houses became the target of the terrorists," he said on Tuesday in his evening video address. Earlier, two people were killed and ten injured in a missile attack on the city of Kupyansk in northeastern Ukraine in the morning. An international group of experts has drawn up a document aimed at tightening sanctions against Russia, Zelensky said.
"This sanctions document will be on the desks of all the world's major leaders – both in politics and in the public and in business," the president continued. The sanctions are directed against the Russian oil and gas sector, but also against the nuclear industry and also affect those who help Russia circumvent the sanctions already in place.
Demands: Reduce oil price cap, embargo on metals
Zelensky referred to the "Action Plan 2.0" presented on Tuesday by the head of his presidential office. Above all, it calls for a reduction in the maximum price for the purchase of Russian Urals oil from 60 to 45 US dollars (the equivalent of about 41 euros) per barrel.
According to estimates from Kiev, Russian production costs are currently around 30 US dollars. On Tuesday, Urals oil was trading at over $60 in Moscow. Russia had declared that it did not want to sell below the market price. In addition, the states of the Western sanctions coalition are to introduce import taxes on Russian oil and natural gas. The proceeds are intended to help finance the planned reconstruction of Ukraine after the war. In addition, an embargo on Russian metals and diamonds is to be imposed.
Ukraine also criticises the fact that semiconductors that are important for Russia's arms industry continue to reach the neighbouring country via third countries. Exports via China alone more than doubled in 2022. Kiev is therefore calling for punitive measures against companies that circumvent export bans.
Ukraine wants to completely rebuild six places destroyed by the war
However, the Ukrainian government also presented its own reconstruction plans. In a pilot project, six villages destroyed in the war are to be restored according to the latest technical and ecological standards. They would be rebuilt "better than before," Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced on Tuesday in a cabinet meeting. Among the settlements is the Kyiv suburb of Borodyanka, temporarily occupied by Russian troops, whose ruins have become a symbol of Russia's destructive war of aggression against Ukraine.
Shmyhal promised that if the experiment was successful, other villages would be built according to the same pattern. The money is to come from a reconstruction fund. Since the Russian invasion 14 months ago, over 130,000 homes and more than 17,000 apartment buildings have been damaged or destroyed, according to Ukrainian counts.
Lavrov worried about press freedom in the US
Meanwhile, the separation of the US channel Fox News from its far-right presenter Tucker Carlson, who is known for government scolding and false allegations, was used by Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to take a swipe at the United States. One can only speculate about the background to this, he said on Tuesday in New York during a visit to the UN headquarters. But it makes sense to think about the state of diversity of opinion in the United States, which "clearly suffered," Lavrov claimed.
However, a lack of media freedom and diversity of opinion in Russia is a much bigger problem, as Reporters Without Borders' ranking of press freedom shows: it ranks Russia 155th out of 180 countries, while the USA ranks 42nd.
Renewed criticism of grain agreement
In addition, Lavrov also referred to the grain agreement with Ukraine, which was brokered with UN help. The Russian chief diplomat attested to UN Secretary-General António Guterres' goodwill to implement the agreement, but "there are practically no results". Russia has repeatedly threatened to cancel the grain agreement, which was last extended by 60 days in mid-March.
After the start of its war of aggression, Russia had blocked the Black Sea ports of the neighboring country for months. As Ukraine is one of the largest agricultural exporters, fears of a massive increase in food prices and, as a result, a hunger crisis in the poorest countries have increased. Last summer, the United Nations and Turkey brokered an end to the blockade and made the grain deal possible.
What will be important on Wednesday
Ukraine is celebrating the anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster. On April 26, 1986, a reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded. There were thousands of dead and injured, tens of thousands of people were forcibly resettled, a radioactive cloud swept over Europe. Although no official dates have been announced on the occasion of the date, the leadership in Kiev will probably use it for commemorative events – especially since there are concerns about the safety of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is still controlled by Russian units.