WORLD BRIEFING: September 5, 2023
Today marks 559 days since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine
North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un reportedly plans to travel to Russia this month to meet President Vladimir Putin. The two leaders will discuss the possibility of North Korea providing Moscow with weapons to support its war in Ukraine, the official said. The location is said to be Vladivostok in the Russian Far East.
The leader of the coup that ousted Gabonese President Ali Bongo was sworn in Monday, amid international calls for a return to constitutional order. During a ceremony attended by politicians, diplomats, clerics, the military and a huge crowd of civilians, the military leader pledged to respect what he called the charter of the transitional government. He gave no details - VOA
Chinese President Xi Jinping is apparently skipping this week’s Group of 20 summit in India as bilateral relations remain icy. Instead, Premier Li Qiang will represent China at the Sept. 9-10 gathering, the Foreign Ministry said Monday in a one-sentence notice on its website. Relations between China and India have grown frosty over their disputed border, and three years ago the tensions resulted in a clash in the Ladakh region that killed 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers. It turned into a long-running standoff in the rugged mountainous area, where each side has stationed tens of thousands of military personnel backed by artillery, tanks and fighter jets. Frictions have also risen over trade and India's growing strategic ties with China's main rival, the United States. Both India and China have expelled the other's journalists - VOA
Ukraine's Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov has been dismissed from his post, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky. It comes amid a procurement scandal in the ministry. There has been speculation in the Ukrainian media that he’ll be sent to London to replace Vadim Prystayko as ambassador. Zelensky says Rustem Umerov, head of Ukraine’s main privatization fund and a Crimean Tartar, will replace Oleksii Reznikov as defense minister. Zelensky said that the ministry needs “new approaches.” Also interesting is that Umerov is not a member of Zelensky’s Servant of the People party - but of the opposition Golos party. Umerov has previously helped negotiate prisoner exchanges and the Black Sea Grain Initiative deal - apparently leveraging his contacts with Turkey, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. Zelensky’s appointment of an indigenous Crimean as defense minister to play a key role in realising the return of Crimea to Ukraine sends a clear message: this is Kyiv's endgame
Ukraine's foreign minister said Russia's conditions to revive the Black Sea grain deal are "classic blackmail" after Putin met with his Turkishcounterpart Monday amid efforts to bring Moscow back into the agreement. No major breakthroughs came from the talks, which were held just hours after Russia attacked Ukraine's Danube River ports for the second straight night - CNN
Russia destroyed Ukrainian drones over Moscow and two regions neighboring the capital Tuesday as reports of such attacks become an almost daily occurrence.
Ukraine’s military has made gains near Klishchiivka, some five kilometers from Bakhmut, and Novoprokopivka south of Robotyne, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar reported on Sept. 4 - Kyiv Independent
Currently, Ukraine exports about three million tons of grain per month. But if this indicator is not increased to 5.5-6 million tons, the domestic agricultural sector may lose $3-4B per year, the Parliamentary Committee on Agricultural Policy calculated. According to committee representative Dmytro Solomchuk, the harvest is expected to be larger than forecast at 75 million tons. Given these figures and domestic consumption, it is necessary to export at least 5.5-6 million tons of grain per month so that no surpluses will be transferred to the next harvest. Solomchuk added that if exports are not increased, it will be difficult for farmers to pay rent for farmland and purchase seeds and fertilizers for next year due to their losses. "This can lead to a decrease in the quality of crops and a smaller harvest in the next season," he added.