Meeting of the UN Security Council: main points in the context of Ukraine
US President Joe Biden was among the first to speak at the Assembly. In his speech, he gave a number of reasons why the world should support Ukraine in its defence against Russian aggression, and not force it to make concessions.
The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, also delivered a speech from the main podium of the world and outlined the Ukrainian view of a just peace.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany, Annalena Baerbock, urged to give a decisive signal against the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, because of the aggressive war against Ukraine.
Vasilii Nebenzia, the ambassador of Russia to the UN, tried to prevent the Ukrainian president from giving his speech. The Russian was indignant that Zelensky was given the privilege to speak earlier. According to the regulations, the President of Ukraine spoke second, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Lavrov – the twelfth. Volodymyr Zelensky left the UN Security Council meeting hall before Lavrov began speaking.
Sources: Ukrinform, UNIAN
The conflict over Ukrainian grain: will a solution be found?
During the week, the situation regarding the ban on the import of Ukrainian agricultural products to the EU countries received some development.
The European Commission called on the authorities of Hungary, Poland and Slovakia to be constructive after they unilaterally announced that they would continue to ban the import of Ukrainian grain. The Ministry of Economy of Ukraine announced that it filed a lawsuit with the World Trade Organization against the specified countries due to their extending the ban.
On September 19th, the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal said that Ukraine may decide to ban the import of certain categories of goods from Poland and Hungary. And the Prime Minister of Poland, Mateusz Morawiecki, threatened in this case to ban the import of a larger list of Ukrainian products into Poland.
On September 20th, Deputy Minister of Economy Taras Kachka announced that Ukraine offered Poland a consensus regarding Ukrainian agricultural production, which “actually takes into account all the concerns of Polish farmers.”
Sources: UNIAN
In 2024, the national debt of Ukraine will exceed 100% of GDP
The forecast amount of the national debt of Ukraine in 2024 will be more than 8.18 trillion hryvnias or 104.6% of GDP.
This is stated in the explanatory note to the draft state budget of Ukraine for the next year, which the Cabinet of Ministers submitted for consideration to the parliament. At the same time, the government notes that, taking into account the structure of state borrowing in 2023 and projected borrowing in 2024, by the end of 2024 the share of state domestic debt will be 20% of the state debt, and the share of state external debt will be 80%, respectively.
At the same time, the Cabinet of Ministers expects to receive $5.4 billion in 2024 as part of the four-year cooperation program with the International Monetary Fund.
Sources: Suspilne, Ukrainska Pravda
Poland announced that next year aid to Ukrainian refugees will be discontinued
On September 20th, in Poland they started talking about the possibility of ending aid to Ukrainian refugees beginning next year.
Support for refugees, which includes the abolition of residence and work permit requirements, free access to schools, health care and family benefits, will not be extended next year, government official Peter Müller said.
The European Commission proposed to extend temporary protection for refugees from Ukraine until March 3rd, 2025. This will provide support for more than 4 million people who are benefiting from protection across the EU. Now, it is the European Council that has to support this proposal of the European Commission.
The procedure of extending the directive will not require a unanimous vote and can be approved by a qualified majority vote. Experts predict that the EU Council will first try to approve the decision unanimously during a meeting of EU interior ministers to demonstrate EU unity. But if Warsaw starts blocking it, the decision will be made by the majority.
According to the statement of the European Commissioner for Employment and Social Rights Nicolas Schmit, after the extension of this directive is approved, the member states will be obliged to implement it.
Sources: Radio Svoboda, UNIAN
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