United News of Bangladesh

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged world leaders Wednesday to increase pressure on Russia by cutting its revenues and limiting its ability to continue the war against Ukraine. Addressing the UN General Assembly, Zelenskyy said Russian President Vladimir Putin remains the main obstacle to ending what he called a “ridiculous and never-ending war.” “Our target is Russia's ability to finance this war, to drag it out, to make it more brutal and more destructive,” Zelenskyy said. “Russia's finances and Russia's production are what must be stopped if Putin is to be stopped.” He argued that when Russia continues to earn money from international trade, it has less incentive to pursue diplomacy. “Russia's revenues must remain a target,” he said. Earlier Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov clashed with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and European supporters of Ukraine during a UN Security Council meeting. Lavrov also met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the sidelines of the General Assembly to discuss the war. US discusses possible limited ceasefireRubio later told reporters that Russia and Ukraine have shown interest in a limited ceasefire that would stop attacks on grain shipments and energy infrastructure. Both countries are major grain exporters, while their energy facilities have increasingly come under drone and missile attacks. Rubio said reaching even a limited agreement would be difficult but worthwhile. He noted that Zelenskyy has publicly supported such a proposal and said the United States would be willing to help implement it. Russia's Foreign Ministry did not mention a possible partial agreement on grain shipments in its statement following the Lavrov-Rubio meeting. Instead, it repeated Moscow's position that the root causes of what it calls its “special military operation” must be addressed. At the Security Council, Lavrov said Russia would not “pause” its military action, arguing that European countries would use such a pause to supply Ukraine with more weapons. He also did not mention a possible grain or energy agreement. Lavrov described Ukraine's government as “terrorists” and said Russia's military operation was aimed at protecting its security and the rights of Russian speakers. Lavrov is scheduled to address the General Assembly on Saturday. Zelenskyy questions Putin's commitment to peaceZelenskyy said Russia's actions raised doubts about whether Putin genuinely wants to end the fighting. “Something always seems to stop Putin from saying, ‘That's it. Enough. Peace,’” he said. “The more freedom Putin has to act, the more dangerous the world becomes for everyone else,” Zelenskyy added. The war has affected countries far beyond Ukraine and Russia, disrupting global supplies of fuel, fertilizer and grain while deepening political divisions between Russia and Western countries. Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, initially expecting to capture Kyiv within days. Ukraine resisted the invasion, and the war has continued for more than four years, with front-line positions in eastern and southern Ukraine remaining largely unchanged since last year. Western analysts estimate that more than 500,000 Russian troops have been killed and that Ukraine has suffered more than 500,000 military casualties, including as many as 140,000 deaths. Neither Russia nor Ukraine publishes its own casualty figures. Russia, Ukraine intensify drone attacksRussia and Ukraine have increased their long-range drone and missile attacks in recent months. Russian drones struck Kyiv on Wednesday, killing two people and injuring 23 others, according to Ukrainian officials. Two more people were injured in a strike that caused a major fire at a shopping mall in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia. Russia's Defense Ministry said its forces had targeted Ukrainian military-industrial and energy facilities, logistics centers and sea vessels overnight. The ministry also said Russian air defenses intercepted more than 500 Ukrainian drones over several Russian regions, Crimea, the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine and illegally annexed the peninsula in 2014. Zelenskyy calls for more pressure on RussiaZelenskyy told the General Assembly that Russia had used about 63,000 attack drones of various types against Ukraine so far this year. He said Ukraine had shown that it could continue defending itself despite facing a much larger military. “Limit his money. Limit his war,” Zelenskyy told world leaders, urging them to prevent Russia from obtaining financial resources and foreign fighters. He also said Ukraine needs to strengthen its military and has successfully tested four new jet-powered interceptor drones against Iranian-designed Shahed drones used by Russia. Zelenskyy highlighted agreements and programmes with several countries involving drones and anti-ballistic missile systems. He also warned about the growing role of artificial intelligence in warfare, saying autonomous weapons could eventually make battlefield decisions without direct human control. “We need peace before we reach that point,” he said. Zelenskyy rejected the idea that Ukraine wants war, saying its focus on weapons, defence and sanctions is a response to Russia's invasion. “Ukrainians did not choose this war,” he said. “We choose not to die. … We are defending ourselves.”

Martin Kopf needs natural gas to run his family's company, Zinkpower GmbH, which rustproofs steel components in western Germany. Zinkpower's facility outside Bonn uses gas to keep 600 tons of zinc worth 2.5 million euros ($2.5 million) in a molten state every day. The metal will harden otherwise, wrecking the tank where steel parts are dipped before they end up in car suspensions, buildings, solar panels and wind turbines. Six months after Russia invaded Ukraine, the consequences are posing a devastating threat to the global economy, including companies like Zinkpower, which employs 2,800 people. Gas is not only much more costly, it might not be available at all if Russia completely cuts off supplies to Europe to avenge Western sanctions, or if utilities can't store enough for winter. Germany may have to impose gas rationing that could cripple industries from steelmaking to pharmaceuticals to commercial laundries. "If they say, we're cutting you off, all my equipment will be destroyed," said Kopf, who' also chairs Germany’s association of zinc galvanizing firms. Governments, businesses and families worldwide are feeling the war's economic effects just two years after the coronavirus pandemic ravaged global trade. Inflation is soaring, and rocketing energy costs have raised the prospect of a cold, dark winter. Europe stands at the brink of recession. Also read: Bangladesh may prefer to import Russian oil via third country High food prices and shortages, worsened by the cutoff of fertilizer and grain shipments from Ukraine and Russia that are slowly resuming, could produce widespread hunger and unrest in the developing world. Outside Uganda's capital of Kampala, Rachel Gamisha said Russia's war in faraway Ukraine has hurt her grocery business. She has felt it in surging prices for necessities like gasoline, selling for $6.90 a gallon. Something that's 2,000 shillings (about $16.70) this week may cost 3,000 shillings ($25) next week. “You have to limit yourself,’’ she said. “You have to buy a few things that move fast.’’ Gamisha has noticed something else, too — a phenomenon called “shrinkflation": A price may not change, but a doughnut that used to weigh 45 grams may now be only 35 grams. Bread that weighed 1 kilogram is now 850 grams. Russia's war led the International Monetary Fund last month to downgrade its outlook for the global economy for the fourth time in under a year. The lending agency expects 3.2% growth this year, down from the 4.9% it forecast in July 2021 and well below a vigorous 6.1% last year. “The world may soon be teetering on the edge of a global recession, only two years after the last one," Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, the IMF's chief economist, said. Also read: Russians down Ukrainian drones in Crimea as war broadens The U.N. Development Program said rising food and energy prices threw 71 million people worldwide into poverty in the first three months of the war. Countries in the Balkans and sub-Saharan Africa were hit hardest. Up to 181 million people in 41 countries could suffer a hunger crisis this year, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization has projected. In Bangkok, rising costs for pork, vegetables and oil have forced Warunee Deejai, a street-food vendor, to raise prices, cut staff and work longer hours. “I don’t know how long I can keep my lunch price affordable,’’ she said. “Coming out from COVID lockdowns and having to face this is tough. Worse is, I don’t see the end of it.’’ Even before Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine, the global economy was under pressure. Inflation had skyrocketed as a stronger-than-expected recovery from the pandemic recession overwhelmed factories, ports and freight yards, causing delays, shortages and higher prices. In response, central banks began raising interest rates to try to cool economic growth and tame spiking prices. “We’ve all got all these different things going on,’’ said Robin Brooks, chief economist at the International Institute of Finance. “The volatility of inflation went up. The volatility of growth went up. And therefore, it’s become infinitely harder for central banks to steer the ship.’’ China, pursuing a zero-COVID policy, imposed lockdowns that have severely weakened the world’s second-biggest economy. At the time, many developing countries still grappled with the pandemic and the heavy debts they had taken on to protect their populations from economic disaster. All those challenges might have been manageable. But when Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, the West responded with heavy sanctions. Both actions disrupted trade in food and energy. Russia is the world’s third-biggest petroleum producer and a leading exporter of natural gas, fertilizer and wheat. Farms in Ukraine feed millions globally. The resulting inflation has rippled out to the world. Near Johannesburg, South Africa, Stephanie Muller has been comparing prices online and checking different grocery stores to find the best deals. “I have three children who are all in school, so I have been feeling the difference,’’ she said. Shopping at a market in Vietnam's capital of Hanoi, Bui Thu Huong said she's been limiting her spending and cutting back on weekend dinners out. At least there’s one advantage to cooking at home with her children: “We can bond with them more in the kitchen, while saving money at the same time.’’ Syahrul Yasin Limpo, Indonesia's agriculture minister, warned this month that the price of instant noodles, a staple in the Southeast Asian nation, might triple because of inflated wheat prices. In neighboring Malaysia, vegetable farmer Jimmy Tan laments that fertilizer prices are up 50%. He’s also paying more for supplies like plastic sheets, bags and hoses. In Karachi, Pakistan, far from the battlefields of Ukraine, Kamran Arif has taken a second, part-time job to supplement his wages. “Because we have no control on prices, we can only try to increase our income,’’ he said. A vast majority of people live in poverty in Pakistan, whose currency has lost up to 30% of its value against the dollar and the government has increased electricity prices 50%. Muhammad Shakil, an importer and exporter, says he can no longer get wheat, white chickpeas and yellow peas from Ukraine. “Now that we have to import from other countries, we have to buy at higher prices" — sometimes 10%-15% more, Shakil said. As the war fuels inflation, central banks are raising interest rates to try to slow price increases without derailing economic growth. The resulting increase in loan rates is punishing FlooringStores, a New York company that helps customers find flooring material and contractors. Sales are down because fewer homeowners are borrowing to pay for home improvements. “A huge percentage of our customers finance their projects with home-equity loans and similar products, meaning that the hike in interest rates really killed our business,’’ CEO Todd Saunders said. “Inflation wasn’t helping, but the interest rates had a bigger effect.’’ Europe, which for years depended on Russian oil and natural gas for its industrial economy, has absorbed a gut punch. It faces the growing threat of recession as the Kremlin throttles back flows of natural gas used to heat homes, generate electricity and fire up factories. Prices are 15 times what they were before Russia massed troops on the Ukrainian border in March 2021. “There’s a lot more recessionary risk and pressure in Europe than in the rest of the high-income economies," said Adam Posen, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics and a former Bank of England policymaker. The damage has hardly spared Russia, whose economy the IMF expects to contract 6% this year. Sergey Aleksashenko, a Russian economist now living in the United States, noted that the country's retail sales tumbled 10% in the second quarter compared with a year earlier as consumers cut back. “They have no money to spend,” he said.

The world's attention on Russia's war in Ukraine on Tuesday turned anew to the Russia-annexed occupied Crimean Peninsula, where a mysterious ammunition storage fire and explosions injuring two people was the second incident in a week to shake Moscow's sensitivities. Around 2,000 people were evacuated from nearby areas, the local governor said. Videos of the fire and the blasts posted on social media showed think plumes of smoke rising over the raging flames, and a series of multiple explosions could be heard in the background. “Crimea occupied by Russians is about warehouses explosions and high risk of death for invaders and thieves,” said a cryptic Twitter message from Ukraine presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak, which stopped short of claiming any Ukraine responsibility for the incident. The blaze and blasts rattled the village of Mayskoye in the Dzhankoi district of Crimea early Tuesday, Russian media also reported. It was a message reinforced in Kyiv. “Morning near Dzhankoi began with explosions. A reminder: Crimea of normal country is about the Black Sea, mountains, recreation and tourism," Podolyak wrote, referring to the time before Russia invaded and annexed Crimea in 2014. The Russian Defense Ministry said a fire erupted at a “site for temporary storage of ammunition of one of the military units.” “As a result of the fire, the stored ammunition detonated,” the ministry said, adding that it wasn’t immediately clear what caused the fire. The Dzhankoi district of Crimea is in the north of the peninsula, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the Russian-controlled region of Kherson in southern Ukraine. Kyiv has recently mounted a series of attacks on various sites in the region, targeting supply routes for the Russian military there and ammunition depots. Read:Russian shelling heavy in east; Ukraine strikes key bridge Crimea’s Russian-appointed governor Sergei Aksyonov said that two people sustained injuries in the most recent incident, and that local residents were being evacuated from the area, as explosions of ammunition continued. Aksyonov said some residential buildings were damaged near the site of the fire, and about 2,000 people were evacuated from nearby areas. According to Russian media, railway lines going through Mayskoye were also damaged. Aksyonov said all trains will be stopped at the town of Vladislavovka, about 90 kilometers (55 miles) south of Mayskoye, and passengers will be able to continue their journeys on buses. Last week, a series of explosions occurred at the Saki air base near the Novofyodorovka village in Crimea. The Russian military blamed the blasts on an accidental detonation of munitions there, but the incident appeared to be the result of a Ukrainian attack. Kyiv said the explosions destroyed nine Russian airplanes. Ukrainian officials at the time stopped short of publicly claiming responsibility for the explosions, while mocking Russia’s explanation that a careless smoker might have caused ammunition at the Saki air base to catch fire and blow up. Analysts also said that explanation doesn’t make sense and that the Ukrainians could have used anti-ship missiles to strike the base. The Crimean Peninsula holds huge strategic and symbolic significance for both sides. The Kremlin’s demand that Ukraine recognize Crimea as part of Russia has been one of its key conditions for ending the fighting, while Ukraine has vowed to drive the Russians from the peninsula and all other occupied territories. And a British Defense Ministry intelligence update claimed that in the waters off Crimea Russia's Black Sea Fleet surface vessels “continue to pursue an extremely defensive posture,” with boats barely venturing out of sight of the coastline. Russia already lost its flagship Moskva in the Black Sea and last month the Ukrainian military retook the strategic Snake Island outpost off Ukraine’s southwestern coast vital for guaranteeing sea lanes out of Odesa, Ukraine’s biggest port. The Russian fleet's “limited effectiveness undermines Russia's overall invasion strategy,” the British statement said. “This means Ukraine can divert resources to press Russian ground forces elsewhere.”