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The following is a joint statement by Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Re-public, Estonia, France, Georgia, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States

Russia held an informal meeting at the UN today to promote a false narrative about its occupation of Crimea, which it seized in violation of international law in 2014. We condemn Russias human rights abuses and military build-up on the peninsula. We strongly reject Russias attempted annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol. Russias actions are of global concern and inconsistent with international law, including the UN Charter, and contrary to the Helsinki Final Act.

Todays event distorted the realities on the ground in Crimea and only served the interests of Russias occupation. If Russia is truly interested in increasing understanding on the situation in Crimea, it would allow UN, OSCE, and Council of Europe envoys, as well as humanitarian workers, international human rights monitoring missions, and human rights non-governmental organizations, immediate and unimpeded access to Crimea.

As we saw during the March 12 High-Level Arria-formula meeting on Crimea hosted by Estonia and with 23 co-sponsors, as well as during the February 23 General Assembly Debate, Ukraine has the support of the international community in defending its sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders. We call on Russia to immediately end its occupation, stop human rights abuses, release all Ukrainian prisoners it unjustly holds, cease its aggressive actions in Ukraine, respect its inter-national obligations, and implement its commitments under the Minsk agreements. We reiterate our support for the efforts of the Normandy format and our firm commitment to a peaceful resolution of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, in line with the Minsk agreements and with full respect of Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Link:
Defending the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine - GOV.UK

Thanks to modern technologies, rescuers in eastern Ukraine will be able to respond more effectively to crises and provide security to community residents.

Mariupol, 16 March 2021 The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ukraine, with the financial support of the governments of Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland, has made a large-scale supply of modern equipment to the rescue units of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SES) in Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.

From now on, rescue units in the three oblasts will be able to use new equipment 233 modern tablet computers, 69 desktop computers, an interactive panel, routers and a laptop to determine the exact location of an accident or emergency, plan routes and communicate with residents in danger.

Each tablet comes with protective glass, a shockproof case, a car mount and a charger. They have an interactive map with the location of fire hydrants, reservoirs, SES units, defensive structures, essential infrastructure facilities, potentially dangerous objects, added maps of forest districts and other information that will be useful during rescue operations.

Rustam Pulatov, lead of the Community Security and Social Cohesion component of the UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme, said that the programme continues to provide systematic support for the work of rescuers in Ukraine's eastern communities.

"We express our gratitude for the dedicated work of the SES units in eastern Ukraine and strive to focus all our efforts on the systematic and practical support of rescuers, Pulatov said. The daily use of modern tools and technologies will strengthen the ability of communities to respond to emergencies."

The modernised equipment will help rescuers respond more effectively to crises, for example, by more accurately determining the victim's location, or through the faster processing of operational information on firefighting by the operational dispatch service for transmitting to subordinate units of the SES Main Department.

Roman Silin, the head of the services Telecommunications, Information Technologies and the 112 System in Donetsk Oblast, commented on the need for and the importance of the equipment the service has received.

"We thank our UN RPP partners for the technical assistance and modern equipment, Silin said. It will significantly improve the quality of rescuers' work, reducing the time taken to receive and process information and, as a result, saving many lives."

UNDP donated the equipment under the United Nations Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme, with the financial support of Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland. The total value of the equipment is US$ 124,988 (over UAH 3.4 million).

In February, UNDP, together with the EU, supplied disinfection equipment to SES units in Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.

Background

The United Nations Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme (UN RPP) is being implemented by four United Nations agencies: the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Twelve international partners support the Programme: the European Union (EU), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, and the governments of Canada, Denmark, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden & Switzerland.

Media inquiries

Maksym Kytsiuk, Communications Specialist, United Nations Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme, maksym.kytsiuk@undp.org or +380 63 576 1839

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UNDP handed over new equipment to rescuers in eastern Ukraine - Ukraine - ReliefWeb

In a report seen by Reuters, Ukraines State Service on Food Safety said, [the exports] will happen even given that restrictions are still in place in areas where there have been cases of the disease and that safe products can be supplied from unaffected areas.

Previously, detection of bird flu cases meant a ban on exports from the entire country. The new export regime will come into force on 20 March.

Avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, has been spreading rapidly in Europe, putting the poultry industry on alert after previous outbreaks led to the culling of tens of millions of birds.

Ukraine reported an outbreak of bird flu among backyard birds in the southern part of the country in early December and since then the export has been suspended.

The overall export of poultry meat from Ukraine rose 4% in 2020 to 431,000 tonnes.

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Ukraine to resume poultry exports to EU from bird flu-free zones - The Poultry Site

Turkey's vast experience in carrying out collaborative projects between the public and private sector is what lead to Ukraine's decision to invite Turkish investors to participate in the country's $10 billion (TL 78.98 billion) "grand construction project," Ukraine's Ambassador to Turkey Andrii Sybiha said.

Noting that the project is already underway, Sybiha said in an interview on Monday with Turkish economics daily Dnya that they are interested in carrying out projects with experienced Turkish partners.

Sybiha also highlighted that the establishment of industrial parks could be a promising area.

We want to work on this issue with Turkey, he said, noting that in December Ukraine passed a law called "State Support for Large Investment Projects.

Except for tax exemptions, state or public land will be provided for the relevant companies to realize the project and investment in question. Moreover, construction and equipment work will be done with the state or local budget. The investment in question must amount to at least 20 million euros ($23.85 million). In the Great Construction project, projects with a budget of approximately $10 billion will be implemented in five years, including the construction of a total of 24,000 kilometers (around 14,900 miles) of roads, as well as bridges, rail systems, airports and the large ring road project within the framework of Kyiv, the ambassador explained.

Sybiha noted that when the Ukrainian prime minister came to Turkey, he visited the city hospital in the capital Ankara.

Its capacity, size as well as the quality of construction impressed him. Therefore, Ukraine is very keen to build hospitals like this right now, he said, adding that he anticipates a delegation will soon visit Turkey.

Sybiha highlighted a decentralization reform recently enacted in Ukraine that enables local governors to receive an additional mandate while at the same time, a large budget was provided to these administrations to develop their own regions and provinces.

They have gained one-on-one independence. It is useful to work with the regions, taking into account the said independence and budget allocation. There are also certain infrastructure projects in the regions, he said, stressing that they want the involvement of Turkish companies.

Stating that almost every city in the country has an airport in need of modernizing or finishing as well as mentioning plans to launch recycling and water projects, he underlined that Turkish firms could demonstrate their experience and knowledge through the collaborations.

Further commenting on economic relations between the two countries, the Ukrainian diplomat said that Turkey and Ukraine overcame the challenge to their trade relations successfully during a period when world economies were grappling with the pandemic.

He also highlighted the important agreements signed across a variety of fields during the pandemic. The joint projects and cooperation between Ankara and Kyiv cover a wide range of sectors, with defense and industry being the primary fields of cooperation.

The trade volume between the two countries reached $4.3 billion during the first 11 months of last year, according to the Ukrainian ambassador citing his countrys official data.

Sybiha said the total volume will be around $5 billion once the statistics for the entire 12-month period are released, equating to almost the same volume of trade in 2020 as in 2019 despite the pandemic.

Responding to a question regarding the free trade agreement (FTA) expected to be reached between the parties, Sybiha said there are some reasons for 2021 to be a determinative and conclusive year for the signing of this kind of agreement.

Our negotiating parties continue their meetings despite the pandemic. They present mutual offerings. When we consider all those developments it's likely to ink such a deal this year, he said.

More:
Kyiv invites Turkish firms to invest in $10B construction project | Daily Sabah - Daily Sabah

The International Center for Defense and Security (ICDS, Estonia), in close cooperation with the Embassy of Ukraine in the Republic of Estonia, will hold today an online discussion entitled "How does the occupation of Crimea affect Ukraine's national resilience?"

The live broadcast of the event can be watched on the Facebook pages of the Resilient Ukraine program and Ukrinform, which is a media partner of the event.

The issues to discuss include: "The Crimean platform: what role should Estonia play during the summit?"; "Passportization in Crimea: how does the process of obtaining Russian citizenship by Crimeans threaten Ukraine?"; "Drafting to the occupying army: why does illegal conscription to the Russian Armed Forces give rise to growing disturbance?"; "Impacts on resilience: how do Crimean-origin information operations by Russia threaten southern and eastern Ukraine?"

Participants in the event are Mariana Betsa, Ambassador of Ukraine to Estonia; Ihor Yaremenko, Deputy Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine; Volodymyr Prytula, Head of the Crimean Desk, RFE/RL (Krym.Realii); Ibrahim Suleimanov, Head of Kherson city Majlis, Development Director of the Kuresh Crimean Tatar Cultural Center; Marko Mihkelson, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Estonian Parliament; Gert Antsu, Director of the Estonian Center of Eastern Partnership, former Ambassador of Estonia to Ukraine (2016-2019); Evhen Tsybulenko, Law professor at the Tallinn University of Technology. Dmitri Teperik, Chief Executive of the International Center for Defense and Security (Estonia) and Resilient Ukraine program director, will moderate the discussion.

The Resilient Ukraine program has been implemented by the International Center for Defense and Security (ICDS) since 2016 with the support of the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In addition to Ukrinform, a media partner of the event is RFE/RL's Krym.Realii (Crimea.Realities) project.

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Discussion 'How does the occupation of Crimea affect Ukraine?' LIVE BROADCAST - Ukrinform. Ukraine and world news