Economically:

  • U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Saturday that the U.S. will provide an additional $100 million in civilian security assistance to Ukraine, including armored vehicles and equipment for the State Border Guard Service and National Police.
  • Some 30,000 Ukrainian refugees have arrived in France, with half of them traveling through the country to other places such as Spain, French housing minister Emmanuelle Wargon said Sunday. Wargon told Franceinfo radio the government was preparing to welcome 100,000 people fleeing from Ukraine. France has been granting temporary European Union stay permits to Ukrainian refugees, which allows them to have access to schools and to work in the country.
  • The United States and the European Union made a breakthrough in their years-long battle over the privacy of data that flows across the Atlantic with a preliminary agreement struck on Friday that paves the way for Europeans' personal information to be stored in the U.S. The data includes “any information that we voluntarily provide or generate when using services and products online,” That includes names, ID numbers and geolocation data, online identifiers like IP addresses and emails, and other information that tech companies use to target ads.
  • India leans toward continued import of Russian coking coal. “India plans to double imports of Russian coking coal, a key ingredient in making steel, the minister said.”
  • Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on Sunday indicated the federal government would likely act to lower petrol prices in the upcoming federal budget, weeks out from a general election.
  • French retail network Auchan will continue operating in Russia, according to the company’s CEO Yves Claude, who said the chain store operates in the interests of civilians. “It is useless to set people against each other,” Claude said in an interview with French weekly Le Journal du Dimanche.
  • The French authorities are reportedly considering proposals for the construction of a floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in the northern port of Le Havre. The proposed LNG terminal is being negotiated with energy company TotalEnergies, and is expected to serve networks run by French gas utility Engie, Les Echos newspaper reported on Saturday. The project is expected to reduce the country’s reliance on Russian natural gas, as well as increasing the country’s import capacity.
  • Japan baffled by demand to pay for Russian gas in rubles. “Frankly speaking, we do not yet fully understand the goals and how this will be carried out… the government is currently in discussions with the responsible ministries and agencies to assess the situation,” Suzuki stated.
  • Western nations should prepare their peoples for a long-term drop in living standards if their standoff with Russia continues, the Britain’s former Assistant Chief of Defence Staff, Jonathan Shaw, has said. The restrictions and retaliatory steps by Moscow have already seen energy and food prices spiking in many Western nations. There were reports of British food-bank users refusing free potatoes because they couldn’t afford to boil them. But Shaw predicted that this is only the beginning.

Diplomatically:

  • Ukraine and Russia swap the bodies of their dead commanders and officers so they can be buried with dignity by their own sides.
  • Russia continues to supply humanitarian aid, this time releasing propaganda of them delivering 70 tons of cargo destined for Ukrainian citizens
  • In the near future, a referendum on joining Russia may be held in the republic - head of the LPR Leonid Pasechnik. Holy shit. Though I guess if you want virtually guaranteed protection from further Ukrainian advances then that would be the right move - a more or less autonomous region of Russia.
  • The Austrian Parliament refused the President of Ukraine to appeal to the deputies. The parliament said that Austria is a neutral country, and Zelensky’s speeches are one-sided and reflect only one point of view.
  • Ukrainian Presidential Adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said that Ukraine insists on a system of security guarantees as one of the key elements of negotiations with Russia, the presidential press service reported on Saturday. According to the negotiator, the future of Crimea and certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk should be decided only by the presidents of Ukraine and Russia.
  • The Ukrainian government has adopted a resolution that classifies bulletproof vests and helmets as humanitarian aid, thereby necessitating only a declaration to import them into the country, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Saturday. What a :galaxy-brain: move.
  • Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova says Moscow is ready for dialogue with the United States on an equal and mutual basis. Her comments came as Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said U.S. President Joe Biden’s remarks directed at his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin narrow the chances of easing tensions.
  • Ukraine has asked the International Committee of the Red Cross not to open a planned office in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, saying that it would “legitimize” Russia’s “humanitarian corridors” and the “abduction and forced deportation of Ukrainians,”
  • Turkey says world cannot ‘burn bridges’ with Moscow

Militarily:

  • “Most” of Mariupol has been captured and the operation there is now being accelerated because the Russians have figured out the Nazi’s tactics and can predict their further actions.
  • Mariupol resident: “Let the whole world know that Azov and Right Sector killed us. They are fascists."
  • Russia displays its remote mining system in Kharkiv, allowing it to plant mines at long range in enemy territory, and their location is recorded electronically. They also disable themselves over time to avoid civilian deaths.
  • A Russian reconnaissance group near Chernihiv/Chernigov allegedly recreated the appearance of a large scale attack on Ukraine’s army, making them flee and leave guarded objects near Olishevka, south of Chernihiv. Not sure I entirely believe this one but regardless, that they captured the village is very plausible.
  • Footage is being released of Russian Iskanders taking out military objects around Kharkiv. Large explosions in Kharkiv’s Saltovka district, in the northeast portion of the city; makes sense as that’s on the frontline. Looks like military infrastructure was hit. In general, there’s a fair amount of battle in and around Kharkiv, though not soldiers going in (yet).
  • Footage also of Russian artillery hitting enemy columns on the roads around Kiev.
  • Footage of Russian thermobaric MLRS firing at Ukrainian military at Kam’yanka, south of Izyum.
  • DPR occupies former Ukrainian artillery positions in Maryinka, which is on the Donetsk front 20-30km west of Donetsk (city).
  • It appears that Ukrainian propaganda that they are liberating the city of Kherson is incorrect - for some reason Ukraine said they’d liberate the city “by morning” when footage out of the city reveals nothing going on, really. No explosions or anything.
  • Ukraine says they regained control of Husarivka, which is confusing because there’s two places with the exact same name in that area. One of them is on the front whereas the other is tens of km away from it, so I will be gracious and say they are referring to the former.

Dipshittery:

  • Financial Times uses image of Syrian refugees with the headline “Millions of Ukrainians seek safety within war-torn country’s borders”
  • Zurich Insurance removes the Z from its logo. “The company said it was removing the logo - a white Z on a blue background - because it did not want to be misinterpreted as supporting Russia in the conflict.”
  • Back to that deranged commenter asking Australia to invade the Solomon Islands - there’s a leaked but unverified text of what China’s agreement on the islands are: “China may, according to its own needs and with the consent of Solomon Islands, make ship visits to, carry out logistical replenishment in, and have stopover and transition in the Solomon Islands. The Solomon Islands may, according to its own needs, request China to send police, armed police, military personnel, and other law enforcement and armed forces to Solomon Islands to assist in maintaining social order, protecting people’s lives and property.” Not exactly Cuba during the Missile Crisis.
  • “As you know, and as you have heard us say repeatedly, we do not have a strategy of regime change in Russia - or anywhere else, for that matter.” - Antony Blinken