Europe faces Friday, April 1, 2022, the deadline set by Moscow to pay in rubles for the purchase of its gas, while the parties to the conflict , Russia and Ukraine, return on the same day to the negotiating table that will be held remotely.
The negotiations that will be held between Russia and Ukraine come two days after another meeting directly in Istanbul, and it seems that they have achieved "positive progress", but its details were not announced except with optimistic statements from Russian and Ukrainian officials.
Time is running out for Europe
In turn, Europe faces a choice after Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded to buy his country's gas in rubles (the local currency) instead of the dollar and the euro, which is rejected by European countries that depend on Russian gas for about 40% of their needs.
On Thursday, March 31, Putin renewed his demand for European energy buyers to pay in rubles as of Friday, otherwise they would "face the suspension of current contracts."
But the European Union still insists on refusing to pay in rubles, and Germany, the largest customer of Russian gas in the old continent, said that Putin's demands are "blackmail".
On the other hand, the Russian Information Agency quoted, on Friday, April 1, a senior official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as saying that "Russia will respond to European Union sanctions."
With the rise in global fuel prices due to the war, US President Joe Biden launched, Thursday, March 31, the largest ever withdrawal from US oil reserves, as he announced the withdrawal of 180 million barrels starting in May, but this amount does not cover what the states lost. United States of Russia oil that Biden banned this month.
The war also threatens to disrupt global food supplies, and a US government official released pictures of what he said were damage to grain storage facilities in Ukraine, which was the world's fourth-largest grain exporter last season.
New round of negotiations
On the other hand, Friday is considered hot for Russia and Ukraine due to negotiations that may discuss the formulation of a treaty between the two parties with international guarantees, after a faltering tour in Istanbul.
And the Kremlin had said last Wednesday, March 30, that the Istanbul negotiations “did not lead to promising results,” while a member of the Ukrainian negotiating delegation stated that Kyiv had proposed holding a direct meeting between Presidents Putin and Zelensky, but Moscow “rejected” that before progress was made in drafting Draft agreement before holding the said meeting.
Ukraine is seeking to forge a multilateral treaty with Russia in the presence of guarantor states, to ensure that no war will be waged on its territory in the future.
Despite the continuation of negotiations and diplomatic meetings between the two sides of the conflict, the battles are still continuing, amid intense confrontations and the preparation of Ukrainians for more attacks in the south and east, according to "Reuters".
upcoming battles
Moscow said in talks this week that it would scale back attacks near the capital Kyiv and in the north as a goodwill gesture focused on "liberating" Ukraine's southeastern Donbass region. According to "Reuters".
But Kyiv and its allies say Russia is trying to regroup after suffering losses from a Ukrainian counter-attack that recaptured areas on the outskirts of the capital, as well as strategic areas in the northeast and southwest.
Video footage from Irbin, on the western edge of Kiev, showed destroyed Russian tanks amid bombed buildings and Ukrainian teams removing the bodies of the victims.
"We knew they (the Russians) were being pushed out, but when our army came, I realized we were liberated," said Lilia Ristic, a resident of Irbin. "It was a joy beyond belief."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned in a speech late Thursday, March 31, of upcoming battles in the Donbass and the besieged port city of Mariupol in the south.
"There will be battles in the future," Zelensky said. "We still need to go down a very difficult road to get everything we want."
In turn, Ukraine's ambassador to Japan, Sergey Korsunsky, said on Friday, April 1, that Kyiv will soon be able to better protect its airspace and cities from Russian attacks, because it expects "ultra-modern" military equipment from the United States and Britain.
He added in a press conference: "They still have the upper hand in air power, aircraft and missiles, and we expect to start receiving ultra-modern equipment from the United States and Britain to protect our skies and cities."