Russia announces it has finished calling up reservists to fight in Ukraine, having drafted hundreds of thousands of people in a month, with more than a quarter of them already sent to the battlefield, as fighting enters its 248th day.
Saturday, October 29, 2022
UN wants Russia, Ukraine to extend grain, fertiliser export deal
The United Nations has urged parties to the Black Sea grain deal that allowed a resumption of Ukraine’s grain exports to renew the pact beyond mid-November, saying it was needed to contribute to global food security.
It also called for the full implementation of a related agreement to ensure grain and fertiliser from Russia also reach global markets.
“We underline the urgency of doing so to contribute to food security across the world, and to cushion the suffering that this global cost-of-living crisis is inflicting on billions of people,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
Under the July 22 agreement, Ukraine was able to restart its Black Sea grain and fertiliser exports, which had stalled when Russia invaded its neighbour on February 24. The Ukraine export deal was initially agreed for 120 days.
Ukraine braces for more power cuts
Four million people across Ukraine have been hit by power cuts due to Russia’s bombing campaign, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said, as officials in the capital Kiev warned of “unprecedented” outages.
Zelenskyy was speaking hours after Russia said it had completed its call-up of 300,000 reservists to fight there.
“About 4 million Ukrainians face restrictions now” from the rolling blackouts, he said. “We are doing everything so that the state has the opportunity to reduce such blackouts.”
Zelenskyy accuses Russians of engaging in mass theft of medical equipment
Russian forces in the occupied Ukrainian region of Kherson are engaged in mass theft of medical equipment and ambulances in a bid to make the area uninhabitable, President Zelenskyy has said.
“The occupiers have decided to close down medical institutions in towns, take away medical equipment, ambulances, everything. They are putting pressure on doctors who still remain… to move to the territory of Russia,” he said.
“Russia is trying to make the Kherson region a no man’s land,” he added in a video address, saying pro-Moscow forces realised they could not hold onto the city and were therefore taking what they could.
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Source: TRTWorld and agencies
Live blog: UN chief urges extension of Ukraine-Russia grain deal
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