India, Ukraine discuss achieving ‘peaceful settlement’

India, Ukraine discuss achieving ‘peaceful settlement’ to Moscow-Kyiv conflict during FM Kuleba’s India visit: MEA

ANI

29 March, 2024 10:47 pm IST

New Delhi [India], March 29 (ANI): India and Ukraine discussed regional and global matters including the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and efforts to achieve a ‘peaceful settlement’, during the visit of Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro to New Delhi, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

FM Kuleba was on an official visit to India on March 28-29. During his visit, FM Kuleba met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, and Deputy National Security Adviser, Vikram Misri.

The meeting between Jaishankar and Kuleba held on Friday focused on fostering constructive dialogue and strengthening bilateral relations between India and Ukraine, including in areas such as trade and investment, science and technology, defence, agriculture, health, culture, and education, the statement read.

Both ministers also held a separate discussion on matters related to the India-Ukraine Inter-Governmental Commission on trade, economic, scientific, technical, industrial and cultural cooperation and its working groups.

New Delhi and Kyiv agreed to work towards holding the seventh Inter-Governmental Commission meeting later this year.

“The exchange of views on regional and global matters involved a comprehensive discussion on the ongoing conflict and efforts to achieve a peaceful settlement,” the statement added.

The two sides also acknowledged that regular interactions at various levels and meetings of bilateral mechanisms have contributed to the strong and multifaceted partnership that exists between India and Ukraine.

Earlier in the day, Ukrainian FM Kuleba said on social media platform X that he held “comprehensive talks” with EAM Jaishankar on bilateral ties and global security. The two leaders paid special attention to the Peace Formula and the next steps to be adopted for its implementation.

He added that the two sides agreed to restore the level of cooperation between our countries that existed before the conflict between Russia and Ukraine started in 2022.

EAM Jaishankar stated on X that the two sides had wide-ranging conversation focussing on the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and its wider ramifications. They also reiterated their commitment to strengthen the overall relationship, including bilateral cooperation.

At the meeting, Jaishankar said that he looks forward to the visit, adding that India looks forward to hearing the Ukrainian perspective on their regional situation.

“We have been looking forward to this visit…In recent months, we have had interactions at various levels, I am glad to see some of our bilateral mechanisms have also met and this has created certain momentum in our bilateral relationship. Today, after this discussion, we look forward also to the meeting of the intergovernmental commission,” Jaishankar said.

“Your visit gives us an opportunity to understand the situation in your own region and I look forward to hearing your perspective on that. Our teams have prepared a very substantial agenda for discussions,” he added.

While, the Ukrainian FM stated that Kyiv will be looking forward to discussing new areas of cooperation with New Delhi.

“We will be looking forward to restoring what had existed before the large-scale invasion of Russia in Ukraine began, existed between us. We will be looking forward to discussing new areas and projects of our cooperation because I do believe that this relationship has a strategic perspective,” he said.

In 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy first presented Ukraine’s 10-point peace formula to world leaders at the G20 Summit in Indonesia’s Bali. The 10-point peace formula includes a path to nuclear safety and food security, a special tribunal for alleged Russian war crimes and a final peace treaty with Moscow.

Ukrainian FM Kuleba arrived in India at the invitation of EAM Jaishankar on Thursday and said he will look to boost bilateral ties between the two countries and build on the dialogue between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

He also paid respects to Mahatma Gandhi at the Rajghat in New Delhi.

Meanwhile, this visit came days after a telephonic conversation between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on March 20, in which the two leaders discussed ways to further strengthen the India-Ukraine partnership in various spheres.

While discussing the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, PM Modi reiterated India’s people-centric approach and called for dialogue and diplomacy as the way forward. He highlighted that India supports all efforts for an early and peaceful resolution of all issues between the parties.

He added that India would continue to do everything within its means to support a peaceful solution. Ukrainian resident Zelenskyy appreciated India’s continued humanitarian assistance for the people of Ukraine. (ANI)⍐

Biden signs $1.2 trillion US spending bill not including Ukraine aid

Euractiv.com with Reuters  24 Mar 2024

US President Joe Biden on Saturday (23 March) signed into law a $1.2 trillion spending package, keeping the US government funded through a fiscal year that began six months ago.

Biden described the package, which Congress overwhelmingly passed in the early hours of Saturday, as investing in Americans as well as strengthening the economy and national security. The Democratic president urged Congress to pass other bills stuck in the legislative chambers.

“The House must pass the bipartisan national security supplemental to advance our national security interests,” Biden said in a statement. “And Congress must pass the bipartisan border security agreement, the toughest and fairest reforms in decades, to ensure we have the policies and funding needed to secure the border. It’s time to get this done.”

The Democratic-majority Senate passed the spending bill with a 74-24 vote. Key federal agencies including the departments of Homeland Security, Justice, State and Treasury, which houses the Internal Revenue Service, will remain funded through 30 September.

But the measure did not include funding for mostly military aid to Ukraine, Taiwan or Israel, which are included in a different Senate-passed bill that the Republican-led House of Representatives has ignored.

The business community welcomed the passage of the spending bill and committed to continue working with policymakers to advance legislation that would enhance tax breaks for businesses and low-income families.

“A fully operational US government provides important stability for American businesses, workers and families,” Business Roundtable CEO Joshua Bolten said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing to work with Members of Congress to advance sound policies, including the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act.”

Senate leaders spent hours on Friday negotiating a number of amendments to the budget bill that ultimately were defeated. The delay pushed passage beyond a Friday midnight deadline.

But the White House Office of Management and Budget issued a statement saying agencies would not be ordered to shut, expressing confidence the Senate would promptly pass the bill, which it did.

While Congress got the job done, deep partisan divides were on display again, as well as bitter disagreement within the House’s narrow and fractious Republican majority. Conservative firebrand Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene threatened to force a vote to remove Speaker Mike Johnson, a fellow Republican, for allowing the measure to pass.

The 1,012-page bill provides $886 billion in funding for the Defense Department, including a raise for US troops.

Johnson, as he has done more than 60 times since succeeding his ousted predecessor Kevin McCarthy in October, relied on a parliamentary maneuver on Friday to bypass hardliners within his own party, allowing the measure to pass by a 286-134 vote that had substantially more Democratic support than Republican.

For most of the past six months, the government was funded with four short-term stopgap measures, a sign of the repeated brinkmanship that ratings agencies have warned could hurt the creditworthiness of a federal government that has nearly $34.6 trillion in debt.

“This legislation is truly a national security bill — 70% of the funding in this package is for our national defense, including investments that strengthen our military readiness and industrial base, provide pay and benefit increases for our brave servicemembers and support our closest allies,” said Republican Senator Susan Collins, one of the main negotiators.

Opponents cast the bill as too expensive.

“It’s reckless. It leads to inflation. It’s a direct vote to steal your paycheck,” said Senator Rand Paul, part of a band of Republicans who generally oppose most spending bills.

The last partial federal government shutdown occurred during Donald Trump’s presidency, from 22 December 2018, until 25 January 2019. The record-long interruption in government services came as the Republican insisted on money to build a wall along the US border with Mexico and was unable to broker a deal with Democrats.

Greene lashes out

The new budget bill passed the House with 185 Democratic and 101 Republican votes, which led Greene, a hardline conservative, to introduce her measure to oust Johnson.

That move had echoes of October, when a small band of hardliners engineered a vote that removed McCarthy for relying on Democrats to pass a stopgap measure to avert another partial government shutdown. They had been angry at McCarthy since June, when he agreed with Biden on the outlines of the fiscal 2024 spending that were passed on Friday.

McCarthy’s ouster brought the House to a halt for three weeks as Republicans struggled to agree on a new leader, an experience many in the party said they did not want to repeat as the November election draws nearer.

And Greene said she would not push for an immediate vote on her move to force Johnson out.

“I filed a motion to vacate today. But it’s more of a warning than a pink slip,” the Georgia Republican told reporters on Friday.

Indeed, some Democrats said on Friday that they would vote to keep Johnson, if he were to call a vote on a $95 billion security assistance package already approved by the Senate for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

That measure is unlikely to come up anytime soon, as lawmakers will now leave Washington for a two-week break.

Pockets of Republican opposition to more funding for Ukraine have led to fears that Russia could seriously erode Kyiv’s ability to continue defending itself.

Life is unlikely to become easier for Johnson anytime soon, with the looming departure of two members of his caucus – Ken Buck and Mike Gallagher – set to whittle his majority to a mere 217-213 in a month’s time. At that point, Johnson could afford to lose only one vote from his party on any measure that Democrats unite to oppose.

Ukraine rejects pope’s call to ‘raise the white flag’ to end Russia’s war

The Catholic leader, 87, told a Swiss broadcaster that Ukraine should negotiate with Russia and raised the idea of surrender.

AJ 10 Mar 2024 

Ukraine has rejected Pope Francis’s call to hold negotiations with Russia more than two years into its invasion, saying that Kyiv will “never” surrender.

“Our flag is a yellow and blue one. This is the flag by which we live, die, and prevail. We shall never raise any other flags,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on social media Sunday, a day after the pope said Kyiv should “have the courage to raise the white flag”.

In part of the interview released on Saturday, the Catholic leader raised the prospect of surrender.

“I believe that the strongest are those who see the situation, think about the people, and have the courage to raise the white flag and negotiate,” Pope Francis said in an interview that the Vatican said was conducted in early February.

Kuleba called on the pope to stand “on the side of good” and not put the opposing sides “on the same footing and call it ‘negotiations'”.⍐