Kyiv: Russia has expanded its military goals in Ukraine from seizing control of the eastern Donbas region of the embattled country to regime change in Kyiv, officials said.
The first shipments of grain under a deal mediated by the United Nations and Turkey could leave Ukraine’s Chornomorsk port this week, Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said Monday.
The deal signed Friday could clear the way for the shipment of millions of tons of Ukrainian grain desperately needed across much of the developing world, as well as Russian grain and fertilizer. “We expect the agreement to start working in the coming days,” said Kubrakov, who led Ukraine’s delegation at talks in Istanbul last week.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin has declared to rebuild the missile-devastated city of Mariupol in three stages ending in 2024. The first stage runs through the end of 2022 and involves the restoration of vital infrastructure and setting up a cemetery, an official said. Housing and “transport infrastructure” is planned until 2025. By 2040, the Russian government wants to ensure “budgetary efficiency and economic self-sufficiency of the city’s territories”, the officer stated.