War in Ukraine: Narendra Modi's visit to kyiv, Russian ferry sunk, new American military aid… an update on the situation

Every day, Midi Libre takes stock of the situation in Ukraine. This Friday, August 23, 2024, discover the latest news about this conflict.

The reduction in German aid to Ukraine is “very worrying”, judges Borell

The announced reduction in German aid to Ukraine is “very worrying” and is “bad news”, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Friday.

“In absolute terms, Germany is doing a lot”to help Ukraine cope with Russia's invasion, Borrell said during a speech in Santander, northern Spain. Berlin's upcoming cut in aid to Kiev is therefore “very worrying”, he said. “This is bad news”.

Harris pledges to be “at Ukraine's side” and stand firm with “dictators”

Democratic candidate Kamala Harris vowed Thursday that she would stand “firmly with Ukraine and our NATO allies” and not “make friends with dictators” if elected president of the United States in November, in a direct attack on Donald Trump.

“I will not be friends with tyrants and dictators like Kim Jong Un, who support Trump, because they know he is easy to manipulate with flattery and favors, they know he will not hold autocrats to account because he wants to be an autocrat himself,”, she said during her inaugural address at the Democratic convention.

Biden calls Zelensky, announces new military aid to Ukraine 

The United States will deliver a new package of military aid, including anti-aircraft missiles, to Ukraine, Joe Biden announced Friday after calling his counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky.

Despite the Russian invasion, the American president wrote in a statement, Ukraine “is still a free country. And the war will end with a free, sovereign and independent Ukraine”, he insisted.

Ukrainian Navy Sinks Russian Ferry in Kavkaz Port

The Ukrainian Navy confirmed Friday that it had struck a ferry in the Russian port of Kavkaz used to deliver fuel and weapons to occupied Crimea.

Local authorities reported Thursday an attack on a ferry in the Krasnodar region in southern Russia. “Another unquestionably military target has been destroyed”, Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk told Ukrainian television, also stressing the impossibility of using the port of Kavkaz before the damaged ship is removed.

The fire sparked by the Ukrainian attack has "practically" not affected the port's infrastructure and the ferry hit by Ukraine is half submerged, rescue services were quoted as saying by the state news agency RIA. Following the attack, Russia suspended ferry service between the south of the country and Crimea, the Russian Transport Ministry said, while the damage is repaired.

The ferry was carrying 30 fuel tanks, said Fyodor Babenkov, head of the Temryuk city district, which includes the port. The Kavkaz port is of particular importance due to its location in the Kerch Strait. It hosts ships destined for export and fuel supplies to Crimea, which Russian forces seized in 2014.

In Kiev, Modi wants to contribute to any peace initiative

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, visiting Kiev on Friday, told President Volodymyr Zelensky that he supports Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty, adding that he is on the side of peace. Narendra Modi has called on Ukraine and Russia to come to the negotiating table without delay, saying he is ready to contribute “as a friend" to any peace initiative.

This visit to Ukraine is an opportunity for the Indian leader to clarify his position after his meeting, almost a month ago, with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Russia. His visit to Moscow, on July 8 and 9, coincided with a Russian strike on a children's hospital in Kiev that left two dead. Volodymyr Zelensky had then regretted Narendra Modi's trip to Russia, even though the latter had implicitly criticized the Russian attack in the presence of Vladimir Putin.

Narendra Modi also renewed his condolences on X the social network X in a message written in Ukrainian. “Conflicts are particularly devastating for young children. My heart goes out to the families of the children who lost their lives and I pray that they find the strength to overcome their grief,”, he said.

The trip, the first by an Indian prime minister since Ukraine gained independence in 1991, represents a diplomatic success for the Kiev authorities, who are seeking to extend their support from Western countries to countries in the “Global South” in the hope of reaching a fair negotiated solution to the war with Russia.

India, which has long maintained close economic and defense ties with Russia, has publicly criticized the deaths of innocent people during the war. New Delhi, however, has strengthened its economic ties with Moscow after Western countries imposed sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, including importing cheap Russian oil in large quantities.

After being greeted off the train in kyiv by Ukrainian officials, the Indian leader visited the capital's World War II museum with Volodmyr Zelensky. Ukraine's president has reiterated his criticism of Narendra Modi's visit to Russia.

It was a “huge disappointment and a devastating blow to peace efforts to see the leader of the world's largest democracy hugging the world's bloodiest criminal in Moscow on such a day,"

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak told Reuters the Indian prime minister's visit to kyiv was significant because New Delhi "has influence" in Moscow.“It is very important for us to build good relations with such countries to explain to them what is the best way to end the war and that it is also in their interest,”, he explained.

While Western countries have imposed sanctions on Russia and severed trade relations with it over the invasion of Ukraine, India has, on the contrary, expanded its economic ties with Moscow. Indian refiners, which rarely bought Russian oil in the past, have become Russia's biggest customers, and Russian oil now accounts for more than two-fifths of India's oil imports.

Ahead of the visit, Narendra Modi had said he was pleased“the opportunity to discuss the peaceful resolution of the Ukrainian conflict”. Ukraine hopes to hold a second international summit this year to advance its peace plan and involve Russian representatives. The first summit in Switzerland in June, which explicitly excluded Russia, attracted many delegations, including one from India, but not from China, the world's second-largest economy.

“A lasting peace can only be achieved through options that are acceptable to both sides. And that can only come from a negotiated settlement,”, Tanmaya Lal, the Western secretary of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, told reporters. Volodymyr Fesenko, a Kiev-based political analyst, however, does not expect any decisive proposals to be made during the trip.

For there to be any attempt at negotiation, the military situation must stabilize and presidential elections must be held in the United States, a close ally of Ukraine, he said. This visit is however important for India to demonstrate that it is not on Russia's side and while Kiev wants to normalise its relations with the country.