Pavel Pavlov | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images Swedish furniture giant IKEA has decided to liquidate its Russian unit, limited liability company IKEA Dom, further scaling back its operations after a decade-long presence in the country, according to a company filing on Tuesday. IKEA, the world’s biggest furniture brand, closed its stores in March and said it would sell factories, close offices and cut its Russian workforce by 15,000. However, the Ingka Group, owner of IKEA stores and one of the world’s leading mall owners, kept its “Mega” malls open in Russia. According to the Interfax news agency’s Spark database filing on Russian companies on Tuesday, Ingka Holding Europe BV decided to liquidate IKEA Dom where it is the sole owner. IKEA Dom was founded in July 2006. In June, the Ingka group said it was open to returning to Russia one day, but the conditions were not there at the moment. read more Ingka Group did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Tuesday. — Reuters
Zelensky meets the former UN Secretary General
Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked European nations to stop buying Russian oil. Presidential Press Service of Ukraine | via Reuters Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he discussed Russia’s war in Ukraine with former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. “The topic of the war in Ukraine should remain in the global information space. This shows support for our state. And therefore helps us bring victory closer,” Zelensky wrote on the Telegram messaging app. Zelensky said he also had a productive meeting with former Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos. “Thank you for this visit and the sincere desire to help our country and our people,” he added. — Amanda Macias
The UN Secretary General will visit Ukraine and meet with Zelensky
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks to the press about the war in Ukraine at the Security Council Stakeout at the UN headquarters in New York, United States on March 14, 2022. Tayfun Coskun | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will travel to Lviv this week to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The trio is expected to discuss the ongoing Black Sea Initiative to export grain from Ukraine. “It’s an opportunity for [the Secretary General] to see firsthand the results of an initiative he first presented when he went to Moscow,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said during a daily press briefing. “An initiative that is so important to hundreds of millions of people, that it is part of a bigger package, which includes exporting Russian grain and adding fertilizers to the market,” he added. The secretary general will also meet with Zelensky to discuss the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. He is not expected to speak with any Russian officials while on the UN mission. Later in the week, Guterres will visit the port of Odessa. — Amanda Macias
Zelensky suspected that Western leaders wanted him out of Ukraine before Russia invaded
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends a working meeting of G7 leaders via video link as Russia’s offensive on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine, June 27, 2022. Presidential Press Service of Ukraine | via Reuters A little more than a month before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, CIA Director Bill Burns traveled to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, according to new details in a Washington Post report. Burns shared US intelligence assessments with the Ukrainian leader that the Kremlin would attempt to seize Kyiv and overthrow the central government. Burns told Zelensky during the January 12 meeting that the risks of the president staying in the country were increasing and that he should consider leaving. “Let people discuss in the future whether it was right or not,” the Ukrainian leader said in an interview with the Post, “but I certainly know intuitively … I had a feeling that they wanted to prepare us for a soft handover. the country. And that’s scary.” Zelensky told Burns that he would remain in Kyiv. — Amanda Macias
Macron speaks to Zelenskyy as concern about a nuclear accident at Mount Zaporizhzhia
Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, will have a more difficult time in his second term after losing his parliamentary majority. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, according to the French presidential office, which is reading a phone call between the leaders. Macron expressed concern over the threat posed by Russian military actions near Ukraine’s nuclear facilities and called for the immediate withdrawal of those forces. “[Macron] expressed his support for the proposal by the Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency to send a mission on the ground as soon as possible and the two presidents discussed the terms of such a mission,” according to the readout. The two leaders also discussed the export of Ukrainian agricultural products through a UN-brokered sea corridor. — Amanda Macias
A collection of Ukrainian agricultural exports en route to world ports
The Sierra Leone-flagged cargo ship Razoni, carrying Ukrainian grain, is seen in the Black Sea off Kilyos, near Istanbul, Turkey, on August 3, 2022. Mehmet Caliskan Reuters The 21 ships that left Ukrainian ports are taking hundreds of thousands of metric tons of corn, wheat and other agricultural products around the world, according to the agency that oversees their exports. The Joint Coordination Centre, a humanitarian initiative of Ukraine, Russia, the United Nations and Turkey, said the distribution of exports includes the following:
451,481 metric tons of corn 50,300 metric tons of sunflower oil 41,622 metric tons of wheat 11,000 metric tons of soybeans 6,000 metric tons of sunflower oil 2,914 metric tons of sunflower seeds
The group also said that the preliminary destinations for Ukraine’s food exports are Turkey, Iran, South Korea, China, Ireland, Italy, Djibouti and Romania. — Amanda Macias
Russian navy ‘struggles to exercise effective sea control’, British intelligence says
Moskva airs in 2008. Vasily Batanov | AFP | Getty Images The Russian naval fleet in the Black Sea is “struggling to exercise effective sea control”, the British military said in an intelligence briefing. “She has lost her flagship, the Moscow, a significant portion of her naval air force and control of Snake Island,” the British Ministry of Defense wrote in a statement on Twitter. The British military said Russian warships were firing long-range cruise missiles at targets on the ground in Ukraine. “The currently limited effectiveness of the Black Fleet undermines Russia’s overall invasion strategy, in part because the amphibious threat to Odessa is now largely neutralized. This means Ukraine can divert resources to pressure Russian ground forces elsewhere,” the British military added. — Amanda Macias
Russian defense minister says there is “no need” to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine
A decommissioned ICMB Titan II nuclear is displayed in a silo at the Titan Missile Museum on May 12, 2015 in Green Valley, Arizona. Brendan Smialowski | AFP | Getty Images Russia “doesn’t need” to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, its defense minister said, describing media speculation that Moscow might deploy nuclear or chemical weapons in the conflict as an “absolute lie”. “From a military point of view, there is no need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine to achieve the goals. The main purpose of Russian nuclear weapons is to prevent a nuclear attack,” Sergei Shoigu said during a speech at an international security conference. in Moscow. “The media is spreading speculation about the alleged use of Russian tactical nuclear weapons during the special military operation or about the readiness to use chemical weapons. All these informational attacks are complete lies.” Shoigu also claimed that Ukrainian military operations were being planned by the United States and Britain and that NATO had increased its troop deployment in eastern and central Europe “several times”. Referring to the New START Treaty on US and Russian nuclear arms control, Shoigu said talks on extending the treaty were “two-way” and the situation around it was “difficult.” “A difficult situation is also developing in relation to the Treaty on the Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms. The agreement remains in force until 2026,” Shoigu added. “On the Russian side, the obligations are fulfilled, the declared levels of carriers and warheads are kept within the specified limits.” — Reuters
21 ships have left Ukrainian ports carrying agricultural products, the UN says
The Barbados-flagged general cargo ship Fulmar S is pictured in the Black Sea, north of the Bosphorus, in Istanbul, Turkey, on August 5, 2022. Mehmet Caliskan Reuters The agency that oversees Ukraine’s agricultural exports said 21 ships carrying agricultural products have left Ukrainian ports in the past two weeks. The Joint Coordination Center, an initiative of Ukraine, Russia, the United Nations and Turkey, said 15 ships had also entered Ukrainian ports. In addition, five ships are expected to depart from Ukrainian ports on Tuesday. — Amanda Macias
Finland to restrict visas to Russians. Estonia to remove Soviet monuments
A sign hangs above a passport control at the quiet and almost empty Imatra border crossing between Finland and Russia on May 24, 2022 near Imatra, Finland. Sean Gallup | News Getty Images | Getty Images The European countries of Finland and Estonia, which both border Russia, are taking steps to limit the number of Russian civilians who can enter their territories. Finland will…
