Guerrillas in Melitopol, $40 billion from U.S., and stealing of 400,000 tons of grain: Highlights on war in Ukraine as of May 17-20

Author

Yulia Ustymovych

The 86th day of the war against the Russian invaders continues in Ukraine. On May 17-20, guerrillas in Melitopol blew up an armored train with Russian invaders, the U.S. Senate passed a $40 billion aid package for Ukraine, the House of Commons of Canada recognized the mass deportation of the Crimean Tatars by the Soviet regime in 1944 as genocide. has compiled business, political, and economic news that will help you learn more about the situation in the country that has been fighting for its right to exist for more than two months.

Top news on war as of May 17-20:

The U.S. Senate passed a $40 billion aid package for Ukraine, of which about $20 billion will be used specifically to military needs. 86 Senators voted "for" and 11 voted "against". 3 Senators did not participate in the voting. Now the bill should come to the table of U.S. President Joe Biden, who has been requiring for two weeks to approve money for Ukraine, because he is running out of them.
According to the Ukrainian General Staff, since February 24, there have been at least 12 deliberate arsons of the military commissar's offices in Russia. During the last week alone, five such cases have been recorded, according to Oleksii Hromov, Deputy Head of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Guerrillas in Melitopol blew up an armored train with the Russian military. The number of liquidated invaders is still unknown. This was reported on the Telegram channel of the Defense Staff of the Zaporizhzhya region. The train comprised 10 wagons, the explosion was carried out under a wagon with personnel. As a result of the explosion, two railway tracks were damaged, and the armored train was stopped. The locomotive with 10 tanks of fuel and lubricants that followed the armored train was stopped as well.

Top news on politics as of May 17-20

The Japanese authorities announced a donation of 2 million euros ($2.1 million) to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to secure Ukrainian nuclear power plants affected by the Russian aggression.
The House of Commons of Canada unanimously approved a resolution recognizing the mass deportation of the Crimean Tatars by the Soviet regime in 1944 as an act of genocide. Yuliya Kovaliv, Ambassador of Ukraine, announced this. From now on, every year on May 18 Canada will mark Crimean Tatar Deportation (Sürgünlik) Memorial Day.
Ukraine will not agree to the alternative of joining the EU, Andriy Yermak, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said, speaking on Friday at the Atlantic Council think tank. "We will not agree to the alternatives to joining the EU, which have begun to sound again recently," he said. Yermak noted that Ukraine was able to strengthen the defense capability of the Black Sea and Baltic flanks of NATO. "In general, the deep inclusion of Ukraine in multilateral formats that improve its integration with the international community is an important security factor," he stressed.

Top news on economy as of May 17-20

Russia has stolen about 400,000 tons of grain from Ukraine, and the blockade of ports makes it impossible to export Ukrainian raw materials, which could lead to famine and a global food crisis. This is reported by the Committee on Economic Development.
From May 21, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) lifted the restrictions, according to which authorized institutions could sell cash foreign currency to customers with a deviation from the official one by no more than 10%, the press service of the bank reported. Similar restrictions on setting the exchange rate have also been canceled. According to that exchange rate, the banks charge off funds in hryvnia from clients' accounts if clients use hryvnia cards abroad.
Ukraine got 504 million euros in grant funds from the U.S. and the UK through the World Bank Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) under the Second Economic Recovery Development Policy Loan for Ukraine. According to it, these funds will be used to provide priority social, humanitarian, health care costs, and support for internally displaced persons. The EU also allocated the second tranche of macro-financial assistance in the amount of 600 million euros under the current program with a total amount of 1.2 billion euros.

Top news on business as of May 17-20

Global consumer internet group Prosus is selling its stake in Russian classifieds service Avito. This is stated in a statement from Prosus. The company has already started looking for a buyer for Avito shares. In addition to Avito, the Dutch Prosus (Naspers holding) has business in Ukraine and Poland. We are talking about the OLX ad platform. On March 25, 2022 the company announced exit of Avito from the OLX group. Following the completion of the relevant operating section, Prosus decided to exit the Russian business entirely.
JYSK, a chain of furniture and household goods stores, will reopen a store in Retail Park Bucha (Kyiv region) in early June, the retailer told Interfax-Ukraine. According to the retailer, the losses of the store opened in Bucha in December 2021 amounted to about 8 million UAH after the Russian invasion: the store was looted, goods were stolen, appliances and equipment were damaged, glass facades were broken. At the same time, JYSK in Hostomel was completely destroyed. The company notes that a team of store employees in Bucha and Hostomel, as well as their Kyiv colleagues are working on the opening in Bucha. The JYSK online store has also resumed its work.