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Ukraine says Russia stole ‘several hundred thousand tonnes’ of grain

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Russian forces have stolen “several hundred thousand tonnes” of grain in the areas of Ukraine they occupy, Ukraine’s deputy agriculture minister said on Saturday.

Speaking to Ukrainian national TV, Taras Vysotskiy expressed concern that most of what he said was 1.5 million tonnes of grain stored in occupied territory could also be stolen by Russian forces.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry accused Russia on Thursday of stealing grain in territory it has occupied, an act it said increased the threat to global food security.

Agriculture minister Mykola Solskyi said grain theft had increased in the last two weeks.

“I personally hear this from many silo owners in the occupied territory. This is outright robbery. And this is happening everywhere in occupied territory,” the ministry quoted Solskyi as saying.

He said such a situation could create food problems in areas that are currently not controlled.

“There will soon be a wheat harvest in the south. But farmers in this situation may well say: ‘Here are the keys to the tractor – go collect it yourself, if you want’,” Solskyi said.

The Kremlin denied Ukraine’s allegations, saying it did not know where the information was coming from.

The agriculture ministry said on Friday that six regions in Ukraine had completed their early spring grain sowing despite the Russian invasion.

Ukraine is divided into 24 regions, but there are no plans to sow grain in Luhansk in the east due to heavy fighting there.

The ministry gave no 2022 grain harvest forecast, while analysts see output at 41.4 million tonnes this year compared with 86 million tonnes in 2021.

The consultancy APK-Inform said 2022/23 grain exports could total 33.2 million tonnes versus 45.5 million expected for the 2021/22 season that ends in June.

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Zelenskiy says Ukraine has ‘low chance’ of survival without US backing

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Ukraine has little chance of surviving Russia’s assault without U.S. support, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday after phone calls this week by U.S. President Donald Trump with Zelenskiy and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Probably it will be very, very, very difficult. And of course, in all the difficult situations, you have a chance. But we will have low chance – low chance to survive without support of the United States,” Zelenskiy said in an interview on the NBC News program “Meet the Press.”

An excerpt was released on Friday from the interview, which will be broadcast on Sunday. Reuters reported.

Trump discussed the war on Wednesday in separate calls with Putin and Zelenskiy, in the U.S. president’s first big step toward diplomacy in a conflict he has promised to end quickly.

Trump later said he did not think it was practical for Kyiv to join NATO and that it was unlikely Ukraine would get back all its land. Russia, which annexed Crimea in 2014, launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Ukraine demands Russia withdraw from captured territory and says it must receive NATO membership or equivalent security guarantees to prevent Moscow from attacking again.

Zelenskiy said in the interview that Putin wanted to come to the negotiating table not to end the war but to get a ceasefire deal to lift some global sanctions on Russia and allow Moscow’s military to regroup.

“This is really what he wants. He wants pause, prepare, train, take off some sanctions, because of ceasefire,” Zelenskiy said.

Trump said his call with Putin was a good conversation that lasted over an hour, while the Kremlin said it lasted nearly an hour and a half. Zelenskiy’s office said Trump and Zelenskiy spoke for about an hour. Trump said the call “went very well.”

 

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US VP Vance threatens sanctions, military action to push Putin into Ukraine deal

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U.S. Vice President JD Vance said the U.S. could hit Moscow with sanctions and potential military action if Russian President Vladimir Putin does not agree to a peace deal with Ukraine that guarantees Kyiv’s long-term independence, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

“There are economic tools of leverage, there are of course military tools of leverage” the U.S. could use against Putin, Vance said in an interview with the newspaper, according to Reuters.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday discussed the war with Russian President Vladimir Putin and separately with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and told U.S. officials to begin talks on ending the nearly three-year-long conflict.

The phone calls came shortly after U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Ukraine’s military allies in Brussels that a return to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders – before Russia annexed Crimea – was unrealistic and that the U.S. does not see NATO membership for Kyiv as part of a solution.

Ukrainians on Thursday worried that Trump was preparing to sell out their country following his phone call Putin.

However, Trump on Thursday said that Ukraine would be involved in peace talks with Russia. He told reporters at the White House that Ukraine would have a seat at the table during any peace negotiations with Russia over ending the war.

Kyiv said it would be premature to speak with Moscow at a security conference on Friday.

“I think there is a deal that is going to come out of this that’s going to shock a lot of people,” the newspaper quoted Vance as saying.

“The president is not going to go in this with blinders on,” Vance said. “He’s going to say, ‘Everything is on the table, let’s make a deal.’”

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US Navy jet crashed off San Diego coast, crew members safe

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A U.S. Navy jet crashed off the coast of San Diego on Wednesday but both crew members were safely recovered, a U.S. official said.

The official, who was speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the EA-18G Growler, used for electronic warfare, was based out of Washington State, Reuters reported.

The reason for the crash was unclear, but the Coast Guard had rescued both the pilots from the two-seater jet.

U.S. military aviation safety has been in focus after an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with a passenger jet in Washington D.C. last month.

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