Taken grain, mobilization in occupied territories, and more than $5 billion in support: Highlights on war in Ukraine as of April 22

Author

Yulia Ustymovych

The 58th day of the war against the Russian invaders continues in Ukraine. 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 a month.

The major developments of the day are:

The Russian Federation is preparing for the so-called mobilization in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, the occupying authorities are blocking the exit of the local population, including men of military age, from the occupied territories, the speaker of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Oleksandr Motuzianyk reports. In addition, he draws attention to the fact that in the Belgorod region of Russia, massive blood draws are being carried out from the population for the needs of the Russian army.
The Russian army, as part of the second phase of the "special operation", plans to establish full control over Donbas and southern Ukraine and to provide a corridor to the Crimea.
The World Bank will allocate $4.8 billion to Ukraine for recovery following the results of a round table held in Washington on April 21 together with the Ukrainian government. This was reported by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Politics

The British Embassy will resume work in Kyiv, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said. "We are re-opening the British Embassy in Kyiv, with our Ambassador Melinda Simmons returning to the city shortly. Thank you Melinda and your team for your hard work and resilience. We stand with Ukraine," Truss wrote on Twitter.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan called the southern part of the Kuril Islands (Northern Territories of Japan) "illegally occupied". This is the first time since 2003 that such wording has appeared in the Blue Book, an annual diplomacy report, according to Kyodo News. "The Northern Territories are islands over which Japan has sovereignty, and are an inherent part of the territory of Japan, but now are illegally occupied by Russia," the report says.
Japan will increase financial assistance to Ukraine from $100 million to $300 million, Head of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine Serhiy Marchenko reported following a meeting with Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki on Friday. He also had a meeting with the head of the Italian Finance Ministry, Daniele Franco, and discussed with him a new loan program, the details of which Marchenko has not yet disclosed.

Economy

During the sowing campaign-2022, Ukraine sowed 3.02 million hectares of land with the main agricultural crops, which is 20.1% of the planned 14.4 million hectares for the current season, the data on which were adjusted the day before to increase by 7.1% (from 13.44 million hectares (announced earlier), the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food reported. At present, agricultural enterprises have completed the first feeding of winter crops with nitrogen mineral fertilizers.
Residents of the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea record taking out grain from the territory of the temporarily occupied Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, which is a violation of Art. 55 of the 1949 Geneva Convention on the protection of the civilians during wartime, Lyudmila Denisova, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Verkhovna Rada, reports. According to her, taking out grain is carried out from the territories of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions occupied by the Russian Federation, where a large number of granaries with crops belonging to Ukrainian owners are located. According to her, the inhabitants of the Crimea record the sale on the peninsula of vegetables taken out from the temporarily occupied territory of the Kherson region.
The National Bank has imposed additional restrictions on international money transfers, including the restriction of transactions in cryptocurrency. The NBU ordered a temporary ban on conducting quasi-cash transactions with hryvnia bank accounts. At the same time, it remains possible to make quasi-cash transactions and P2P transfers abroad with your own foreign currency, but there will also be a limit of 100,000 UAH.

Business

The chain of stores Eldorado.ua ensures the work of 78 stores of the chain, inventory is replenished only at the expense of Ukrainian suppliers, the company said in a comment to the Interfax-Ukraine agency. Currently, goods are supplied to stores only from what suppliers have in Ukraine. Deliveries of goods have partially resumed, but some categories of goods remain in short supply. In total, 78 out of more than 120 stores of the chain work, and own targeted delivery is carried out in 24 cities of Ukraine, as well as to operating branches of Nova Poshta.
WizzAir is resuming selling tickets from Ukraine from July 2022. So far, there are only two points of departure from Ukraine in the booking system — Kyiv and Odesa. The nearest dates are from July 4th. For some destinations, for example, to Warsaw, tickets for the next available dates are already sold out. Ticket prices have not changed significantly.

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