UNITED24 Media Telegram
In South Africa, options are being studied to avoid Putin's arrest in case of a visit to the BRICS summit, β Bloomberg
After the court issued a warrant for Putin's arrest, the country's authorities confirmed the Russian president's invitation to the BRICS summit. The government now plans to seek advice from the International Criminal Court.
Kremlin spokesman Dmytro Peskov said that a decision on Putin's trip to South Africa has yet to be made.
Poland, together with its allies, will conduct the Zalew-2023 military exercises on the border with the Russian Federation, which will last from March 27 to 31, PAP writes
2,500 military personnel and 500 units of equipment are involved in the exercises.
EU countries are developing plans to reduce dependence on raw materials from China, β Politico
It is about supplies of lithium for batteries of electric cars.
According to Bloomberg estimates, China accounts for up to 80% of the lithium-ion battery market, and Beijing almost single-handedly controls the supply chain for their production.
The production of Caesar howitzers in France will be doubled β instead of 4, they will produce 8 per month, said Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu.
The production of Mistral surface-to-air missiles and Ground Master air defense radars will also be doubled β from September; they will be produced in 24 units per year.
"Caesar" howitzers are being supplied to Ukraine; France previously handed over 18 howitzers and planned to provide 12 more.
βοΈRussia has probably started the production of glide bombs, β Defense Express.
Journalists studied photos of ammunition fragments that were shelled in the Sumy region on the night of March 24. They concluded that it is about the UMPK (universal planning and correction module), the developer of which is the NGO "Basalt".
The system works similarly to the American JDAM-ER guided aerial bombs β it guides FAB-500M-62 unguided aerial bombs to the target using GPS.
The most effective means of combating this threat is to destroy the carriers of these bombs.
The Kremlin has decided to recruit another 400,000 soldiers, sources told Bloomberg
After the failure of the winter offensive in Ukraine, the Russian command intends to go on the defensive, recruiting reinforcements for the army. By the end of the year, the Kremlin expects to recruit up to 400,000 contract soldiers.
Volunteers are being recruited. Putin fears a new wave of forced mobilization will derail his plans to re-appoint himself as Russia's president next March.
Ursula von der Leyen and Emmanuel Macron to visit China to discuss Russia's war against Ukraine with local authorities, β Deutsche Welle
The French president hopes that by joint efforts, he and von der Leyen will be able to convince Beijing of the feasibility of influencing Moscow to end the war against Ukraine.
There are signals that after the decision of the International Criminal Court, Russia will start systematically returning Ukrainian children, β Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets on the air of the telethon.
The ombudsman reminded that currently, 16,228 cases of deportation of Ukrainian children by Russia had been recorded in Ukraine. Verification of information is ongoing.
Latvia does not support the relaxation of restrictions on exporting fertilizers from Belarus as an exception to EU sanctions, β spokeswoman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs DiΔna EglΔ«te.
The G7 agreed to postpone the repayment of Ukraine's debt under the IMF program
Thus, a group of Ukrainian creditors, which includes all the G7 countries, agreed to postpone loan payments until 2027, when the current IMF program ends.
A mass rotation of Russian troops took place in Nova Kakhovka, the spokeswoman of the Internal Affairs Ministry reported.
The rotation was previously mistaken for the retreat of the occupiers from the city, but the occupiers often use the settlements of the left bank to rebuild their parts.