NASA: Russia stole nearly 6 billion tons of wheat ++ Selenskyj criticizes oil price cap Famous Iranian actress Mitra Hajjar arrested

According to the US space agency NASA, Russia is probably worth wheat this year of about a billion dollars (about 950 million euros) harvested from Ukrainian fields. Around 5.8 million tons of wheat were harvested from fields in Ukrainethat are not under the country’s control, said NASA Harvest, the US space agency’s food security and agriculture program. NASA is using Harvest along with several partner institutions for the research satellite data and modeling.

Total was on Ukrainian territory this year about 26.6 million tons were harvested, which is significantly more than previously predicted, estimates the scientists involved in the research project. While that’s less than last year’s record harvest of 33 million tons, it’s close to the average. However, the war prevented Ukraine from accessing 22 percent of the wheat in the eastern part of the country. In total, about 88 percent of the seed was harvested, which apparently was not the case in many frontline fields. (sda/dpa)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday criticized the limit on Russia’s oil price to $60 a barrel after the EU, G7 and Australia reached an agreement. He mean, that it was not a “serious decision” as Kiev proposed a price twice as low.

“It is not a serious decision to put such a cap on Russian prices, which is quite useful for the budget of the terrorist state,” he said, according to the presidential office. The price of a barrel of Russian oil (Ural crude oil) is currently hovering around USD 65, only slightly above the European ceiling, with limited impact in the short term. (sda/afp)

According to British military experts, Russian troops have invaded Ukraine chased in a disproportionately expensive battle for the city of Bakhmut. The benefit of capturing the city in the Donetsk region of about 70,000 people is disproportionate to the price Moscow is paying for it, the Defense Ministry’s daily intelligence update on the war in Ukraine said in London on Saturday.

Much of Russia’s effort and firepower since August has been focused on a roughly 9-mile sector of a trench front, the statement said. The plan is probably to surround the city. Little progress has been made in the south.

While taking Bakhmut would give Russia the opportunity to threaten major urban centers such as the cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, it would only be of “limited operational value”, the British added. It is therefore a real possibility that the capture of the city has become primarily a symbolic, political goal for the Kremlin.

The British Ministry of Defense has published information on the course of the war on a daily basis, based on intelligence information, since the start of the Russian offensive against Ukraine at the end of February. With this, the British government wants to both counter the Russian image and keep allies in line. Moscow accuses London of a targeted disinformation campaign. (sda/dpa)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has Celebrated return of more soldiers from Russian captivity. “It was a special day in a special week,” Zelenskyj said in his daily video address on Friday evening.

At the same time, he announced that he would bring more soldiers from Russian prison camps. «We will not leave a single Ukrainian in Russian prisons, camps and “isolations” (detention centers). We’re thinking of everyone.”

Zelenskyy met a number of former prisoners of war in Kiev that afternoon and presented them with medals. Russia and Ukraine have exchanged prisoners of war several times in recent days. According to Zelenskyy, a total of 1,331 Ukrainian soldiers have been released from Russian captivity in this way since the start of the war in February. (sda/dpa)

A fuel depot in Shakhtarsk in the Donbass was hit by a rocket attack by the Ukrainian army on Friday. Several people were injured, said Mayor Alexander Schatow of the pro-Russian government there, as reported by Russia’s state agency TASS. “The tank farm has been hit, unfortunately there are casualties.”

No information has been released about the consequences of the two rocket attacks in the camp. According to the Russian account, Ukrainian forces used Himar-type artillery rocket launchers in the attack. The information could not be verified. (sda/dpa)

The EU countries have agreed on a price cap for Russian oil. Together with international partners, they want to force Russia to start selling oil to buyers in other countries from Monday for a maximum of 60 dollars (about 57 euros) per barrel (159 litres). Government representatives have reached a corresponding agreement after long negotiations in Brussels, as several diplomats from the German news agency confirmed on Friday. (awp/sda/dpa)

Ukraine has received its first shipment of Hawk anti-aircraft systems from Spain. This was announced by Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov on Friday after a meeting with his Spanish counterpart Margarita Robles in Odessa. More Hawk anti-aircraft missiles from Spanish stocks to follow. Ukrainian soldiers are already being trained in Spain.

The medium-range anti-aircraft system, which originated in the US, was put into service in the early 1960s and was continuously modernized. Hawk has already been phased out in most NATO countries. (sda/dpa)

Just two days after receiving a package of pyrotechnics, the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid, like other diplomatic missions in the country, received a shipment of “bloody” contents.

Kiev Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Nikolenko announced this on Facebook on Friday. The Spanish police dropped off the diplomatic mission because it was initially unclear how dangerous the program was, the Spanish state television channel RTVE, among others, reported.

It was not until Wednesday that an embassy security guard was slightly injured in one hand when he opened a package in the garden as a precaution, from which a jet of fire shot up.

A total of six such shipments filled with pyrotechnics have been received in recent days by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Defense Secretary Margarita Robles, the US Embassy, ​​a weapons company and the EU Satellite Center at Torrejón Air Base.

All packages, except those in the Ukrainian embassy, ​​were neutralized in a timely manner. Spain’s interior minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, said he believed the broadcasts could be linked to the war in Ukraine. (sda/dpa)

According to reports on Twitter, a graffiti by renowned artist Banksy has been stolen in Hostomel. Photos show how all the plaster around the artwork is missing.

Seven graffitis of the British street art legend appeared in October in a cloak and dagger campaign. It is still unclear who stole the work.

A Banksy graffiti in Hostomel has been stolen.
Folks, what the hell is this? pic.twitter.com/POAcq15M1J

— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) December 2, 2022

Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin has emphasized the important role of the US in the war in Ukraine. Europe’s defense capabilities are not strong enough, without the US Europe would already be in trouble. The United States had provided crucial support to Ukraine with arms, money and humanitarian aid. “We need to make sure that we build these capabilities also when it comes to European defense and the European defense industry.”

The war showed two things: Europe’s weaknesses and strategic errors in dealing with Russia, Marin told Australia’s Lowy Institute in Sydney.

For a long time, Marin himself believed that with strengthened economic relations and buy from Russian energy was to avoid a war. But she was wrong about that. (first)

The Ukrainian secret service SBU has again over half a dozen monasteries and churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.

The searches are part of countermeasures against sabotage activities by Russian secret services, the authority said on the Telegram news channel on Friday. Checks in Western Ukrainian Regions of Zhytomyr, Rivne and Zakarpattia were assisted by the police and the National Guard.

Earlier, the SBU had already searched objects in the main shrine of the Orthodox Church in the UNESCO World Heritage Cave Monastery in the capital Kiev last week. There were also raids in the western Ukrainian regions of Bukovina, Ivano-Frankivsk and Ternopil.

At the same time the chairman Volodymyr Zelensky under the leadership of the Security Council, the cabinet ordered the drafting of a law banning religious organizations in neighboring Russia.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate clearly distanced itself from Moscow after the Russian invasion in February. However, nationalists have long called for their ban to be outlawed. Instead, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which was founded in 2018 with state aid, should be promoted. (sda/dpa)