05/28/2022
Ukraine war in the live ticker
+++ 01:15 rating agency downgrades Ukraine +++
The rating agency S&P further downgraded its rating of Ukraine’s creditworthiness. The credit rating was downgraded from “B-/B” to “CCC+/C” due to the effects of the war. “Significant damage to Ukraine’s economy and ability to collect taxes has increased the state debt’s dependence on international financial assistance,” the agency explains. S&P expects Ukraine’s real gross domestic product to shrink by 40 percent if the conflict lasts into the second half of 2022.
+++ 00:09 Russia wants to spend bubbling export earnings on war +++
Russia is expecting additional income of the equivalent of 13.7 billion euros this year from the export of fossil fuels. “We expect up to a trillion rubles more in oil and gas revenues,” said Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, referring to the latest forecast by the Ministry of Economic Development. Part of the additional income could be used to continue the Russian offensive in Ukraine.
The government wants to spend the extra revenue this year rather than set it aside, he said. The money should be spent on “additional payments” for pensioners and families with children and for the “special operation” in Ukraine, the finance minister said, citing Russia’s offensive in pro-western Ukraine.
+++ 23:03 Ukrainian Orthodox Church breaks away from Moscow +++
Because of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the previous Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate has declared its “complete autonomy and independence” from Moscow. As far as the conflict is concerned, the church in Kyiv said it disagreed with the position of Moscow Patriarch Kirill. One condemns the war, it was said. Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, is firmly behind Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Ukraine war.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate is the largest of the three mainstream churches in Ukraine by number of congregations. In 2018, an Orthodox Church in Ukraine was founded with massive help from then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. The Moscow Church traditionally sees Ukraine as its sphere of influence.
+++ 22:25 Ukraine: Russian fighter jet shot down over Cherson +++
The Ukrainian Air Force says it shot down a Russian fighter jet in the Kherson region. “Today, May 27, around 2:00 p.m., a MiG-29 fighter jet of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine shot down a Russian Su-35 fighter jet in the skies of the Kherson region,” the Air Force writes on Telegram. The Russian jet was said to have been chasing Ukrainian ground attack aircraft.
You can read earlier developments of the Ukraine war here.