● European Council grants EU candidate status to the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine

Funds for candidate countries to strengthen themselves

Candidate status, in addition to an important political signal, gives Ukraine access to EU structural funds, said the deputy prime minister of Ukraine Olga Stefanishyna. “These are incomparable funds with those we had before. These funds will be used to rebuild Ukraine and build a sustainable economy. We are talking about hundreds of billions of euros available after receiving candidate status,” stated Stefanishyna.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that he wants to discuss the outlines of a “Marshall plan” for Ukraine with the leaders of the Group of Seven countries at their upcoming summit in Germany. He said billions of dollars will be needed to finance the rebuilding of Ukraine over years, and that can only work if European nations, other major donor countries and international organizations work together.

A day when everyone understands Turkish language

Turkey continues efforts with the United Nations, Ukraine and Russia to ensure the export of Ukrainian grain to the world markets, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on June 23.

“We see this plan of the U.N. as a realistic plan, we see it as feasible. For this reason, we strongly support it, and we find it important in terms of the legitimacy of this process,” he said, speaking at a joint press conference with his British counterpart, Liz Truss.

For her part, Truss said the U.K. and Turkey work together to get the grain out of Ukraine. Welcoming Turkey’s “leading role” in efforts to open a grain export corridor from Ukraine, Truss underlined the urgency of the grain crisis. The problem will have devastating consequences if not solved within the next month, she added.

If an agreement is reached in a meeting to be held in Istanbul soon, then there would be a control center to be established and a safe zone out of the Ukrainian territorial waters will be opened, Çavuşoğlu said.

The Kremlin on Thursday reiterated its assertion that Russia has not stolen any grain from Ukraine as Turkey said it was probing allegations from Kyiv and would not allow any such grain to be brought to Turkey. Asked about Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu’s comments that Ankara would investigate, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: “You should ask the foreign ministry. Russia has not stolen any grain.”

“Summer will be hot for Russian occupiers”
 
High-mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS) from the United States have arrived in Ukraine from the United States, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov announced this on Thursday.

“Thank you to my colleague and friend Lloyd J. Austin III for these powerful tools! Summer will be hot for Russian occupiers. And the last one for some of them,” he wrote on Twitter.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that at the Madrid summit at end-June, NATO allies will agree a new comprehensive assistance package for Ukraine. It is composed of concrete projects to assist in the short term, including with anti-drone equipment, secure communications and fuel.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine received Western guns M777 without system GPS. Governments and manufacturers fear that during the fighting, the Russian military will be able to seize artillery mounts and gain access to Western technology. With the help of an unmanned aerial vehicle and GPS howitzers, M777 are turning into a full-fledged reconnaissance and strike complex.

Greece no longer safe for Russian citizens

A Russian government official said on Thursday that Greece is no longer a safe haven for its citizens. The Head of the European Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Yuri Pilipson has been quoted as saying Russia has received reports of discrimination and aggression against its citizens in Greece.

Pilipson also alleged Greek officials are disseminating disinformation to media outlets about the war in Ukraine and blocking Russian information sources. Vladimir Putin’s government has long been accused of operating a complex disinformation network.

The pace of Russia’s offensive in Ukraine will slow down in the next few months as the Russian army exhausts its resources, said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. He noted that in the next few months “Russia could come to a point at which there is no longer any forward momentum” because the Kremlin’s offensive in the Donbas has exhausted the Russian army. “We must help the Ukrainians to reverse the dynamic,” he said.

A “peace plan on Ukraine” is possible if Kyiv meets all of Russia's conditions, the Kremlin said on Thursday. At a news conference in Moscow, spokesman Dmitry Peskov was asked what conditions Ukraine had to meet, to which he replied: “Ukraine understands all perfectly well.”

Ukrainians brace for hard winter, Moldovans get ready to make wine e

The head of the Ministry of Regional Development of Ukraine Oleksiy Chernyshov on social networks urged fellow citizens to start preparing for a “super difficult winter” right now, pessimistically saying that how we survive the cold season “depends on each of us.” According to the official, this winter the public utilities will “screw up” heating for Ukrainians.