Torture chamber discovered in liberated village, $625 million in U.S. aid for Ukraine, and OPEC+ reductions
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According to Kharkiv Oblast police investigator Serhiy Bolvinov, law enforcement discovered the facility following a tip from local residents, who said that they would constantly hear screams coming from a basement of one of the houses. Russian occupiers were said to have kept and kidnapped civilians, Ukrainian military veterans, and prisoners-of-war in the chamber, and police discovered numerous implements of torture on the premises.
The International Atomic Energy Agency stated that Ihor Murashov, the ZNPP’s previous director, had been reunited with his family in government-controlled territory. Kotin has assumed his duties, and stated that all decisions regarding the ZNPP will be made from Energoatom’s head office in Kyiv, though technical issues remain the purview of the staff of the occupied facility.
• Meanwhile, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has signed a decree that, in essence, is an attempt “steal” the ZNPP from Ukraine.
• U.S. President Joe Biden has announced a new $625 million military aid package for Ukraine.
According to the Pentagon, the new package includes four more HIMARS systems, with the corresponding ammunition, 16 howitzers, 200 mine-resistant armored vehicles, and a variety of other ammunition and equipment. This is the first military aid package from Washington following Russia's claimed annexation of four Ukrainian oblasts.
• As part of further post-annexation sanctions against Russia, Biden has also forbidden the U.S. Treasury from engaging in transactions involving Special Drawing Rights held by Russia and Belarus.
• Ukraine joins Spain and Portugal’s bid to host the 2030 World Cup.
The Royal Spanish Football Federation, together with the their Portuguese counterpart, have agreed to include Ukraine’s national football association in their bid for 2030. They note that the inclusion of Ukraine in the application does not change the plans of Spain and Portugal: the first country intends to use 11 of its stadiums in the tournament, and the latter proposes three arenas.
• Russia and Saudi Arabia has agreed to significantly cut down on oil production.
According to the Financial Times, exact numbers for the cut have yet to be agreed upon, but the countries will be pushing for cuts of 1-2 million barrels per day, or more, at an upcoming OPEC+ summit. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak will attend the summit, the FT added, saying that he will presumably support production cuts "since Russian oil is already on sale, at a huge discount,” – likely referring to incoming price caps on Russian oil indicated in a new package of sanctions from the European Union.
• Ukraine’s central bank governor is resigning due to health problems.
Kyrylo Shevchenko has headed the National Bank of Ukraine since July 2020, and was previously chairman of the board of state-owned Ukrgasbank from 2014 to 2020. In a Facebook post, Shevchenko states that he “cannot continue to ignore” the state of his health, and will be residing his position. The Ukrainian parliament will accept Shevchenko's resignation this week, opposition party Golos MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak said on his Telegram channel.
According to preliminary data, Gazprom produced 313.3 billion cubic meters of gas in the nine months of 2022. This is 17.1% (64.8 billion cubic meters) less than in 2021. The key factor in this drop was a reduction in demand from the EU, the company said, though gas deliveries to China have reached historical maximums, likely in effort to shore up the lost business.
• The day’s long-read: Putin denounces imperialism while annexing large swathes of Ukraine
Peter Dickinson analyzes the “unhinged” character of Putin’s latest speech and exposes the hypocrisy of the Russian “anti-imperialist” narrative.
Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
