April 27, 2024
Ukraine war in the live ticker
+++ 00:55 Belgium invests 200 million euros in air defense initiative +++
Belgium will provide 200 million euros for the German-led air defense initiative and supply Ukraine with missiles, Belgian Defense Minister Ludivine Dedonder says at a press conference. However, the defense minister did not specify the number or type of weapons to be sent to Kiev.
+++ 23:29 Spain confirms planned Patriot delivery +++
Madrid will provide Ukraine with Patriot anti-aircraft missiles, Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles announced on April 26 at the Ramstein format summit. Their confirmation follows media reports that Spain would send a “limited number” of such missiles, as the country only has around 50 in reserve in total. Robles did not say how many of the systems Madrid will supply.
+++ 21:52 Ukraine receives bodies of killed soldiers back +++
Ukraine receives the bodies of 140 dead soldiers back from Russia. The soldiers fought in the areas of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, the coordination staff responsible for prisoner of war issues told Telegram. Five bodies are from the Sumy section in northern Ukraine. In this area, Russia has no Ukrainian territories under its control. However, at the beginning of March, units of supposedly Russian volunteers made advances into Russian territory from the Sumy region. Once the identity of the dead has been established, they will be handed over to their relatives.
+++ 21:18 Insider: Half of Russian China payments via middlemen +++
As Chinese banks fear US sanctions over Russian payments, insiders say the market for intermediaries is flourishing. Up to half of all Russian transactions in China now go through intermediaries, said four people familiar with the matter, including trade consultants, bankers and importers and exporters. The reason for this is bottlenecks because Russian companies tried to open accounts with VTB Shanghai – the only Russian bank with a branch in China. Therefore, despite high fees and the risk of their transfers being confiscated, businessmen resorted to intermediaries. These are based in Hong Kong, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates, among others.
You can read all previous developments here.