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Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiyy said late on Monday that Kyiv was ready for an exchange of prisoners with Russia “even tomorrow” and called on his allies to put pressure on Moscow, Reuters reported.
“The exchange of people — this is a humanitarian matter today and a very political decision that depends on the support of many states,” Zelenskiyy said in a question-and-answer video link with audience at the World Economic Forum in Davos. “It is important ... to pressure politically on any level, through powerful business, through the closure of businesses, oil embargo ... and through these threats actively intensify the exchange of our people for Russian servicemen.”
A team of Colombian soldiers will travel to Europe to train their Ukrainian counterparts on demining techniques, the South American country's defense minister said, according to Reuters. Colombia's nearly 60 years of internal conflict between the armed forces, leftist rebels, right-wing paramilitaries and drug cartels has made it one of the world's most-mined countries, according to the United Nations. Russian soldiers and Ukrainian authorities both have said they will clear landmines from various locations in Ukraine amid the ongoing invasion launched by Russia in February, Reuters reported.
In his nightly video address, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, “The coming weeks of the war will be difficult. And we must be aware of that. Yet we have no alternative but to fight. Fight and win. Free our land and our people. Because the occupiers want to take away from us not just something, but everything we have. Including the right to life for Ukrainians.”
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced at a meeting of allies that about 20 countries offered new security assistance packages for Ukraine to battle invading Russian forces, Agence France-Presse reported. In their second gathering, nearly four dozen countries and organizations forming the Ukraine Defense Contact Group met online to discuss helping Ukraine, and 20 nations pledged arms, ammunition and other supplies to support Kyiv, AFP reported.
The European Union would likely agree to an embargo on Russian oil imports "within days," German Economy Minister Robert Habeck told broadcaster ZDF, Reuters reported. Habeck warned, however, that an embargo would not automatically weaken the Kremlin as rising prices were enabling it to rake in more income while selling lower volumes of oil, according to Reuters. Therefore, one consideration was to no longer pay "any price" for oil, but to agree on upper limits, he said. For that to work, however, many countries would have to get on board, Reuters reported.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy launched a series of new anti-war postage stamps, The Associated Press reported. The "Russian warship… That's all" series of stamps was put into circulation by the Ukrainian Post, to coincide with Monday's Day of the Marines of Ukraine, AP said. Five million stamps in total, which depict the sinking of a Russian warship in April, will be in circulation.
So far, Russia's oil exports have not slowed down a bit from the war in Ukraine and international sanctions. In fact, Russia exported more oil in April than it did before the war. And high oil prices mean Moscow is raking in money. That's one reason Europe is considering a Russian oil ban: Current sanctions are not hurting Moscow enough. Europe gets more of its oil from Russia than anywhere else. It would have to make up for those banned barrels somewhere else, and that won't be easy. And it's likely to push oil prices everywhere up even further.
Tetyana, a 43-year-old accountant, and her two children, aged 6 and 14, fled the Black Sea port city of Mariupol on February 25, a day after Russian launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. She returned to Ukraine from Italy to marry her partner, Roman, in a ceremony in an ancient wooden church in the western city of Lviv. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty