Live blog: Ukraine claims finding more Chinese components in Russian arms

Monday, April 17, 2023

Ukrainian forces are finding a growing number of components from China in Russian weapons used in Ukraine, a senior adviser in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office told Reuters, as sanctions squeeze Western supplies.

In "the weapons recovered from the battlefield we continue to find different electronics," said Vladyslav Vlasiuk, who advises the president's chief of staff on sanctions policy.

"The trend is now that there is less Western-made components but more – not hard (to) guess which country–made components. Of course, China," he said via a video call.

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0211 GMT — EU criticises Poland, Hungary over suspension of Ukrainian grain imports

A "unilateral move" by Hungary and Poland to temporarily suspend Ukrainian grain imports is "unacceptable," a European Union official said.

In a statement, Miriam Garcia Ferrer, a spokeswoman for trade and agriculture at the European Commission, called on the two countries to step back from the move.

"We are aware of Poland and Hungary's announcements regarding the ban on imports of grain and other agricultural products from Ukraine."

Two countries have announced on Saturday that they suspended Ukrainian grain imports in order to balance the oversupply of grain in their domestic markets that has caused local prices to crash.

0110 GMT — Ukrainian club Shakhtar reaches out to wounded soldiers and war orphans

Shakhtar Donetsk's objectives used to be confined to silverware but now the storied Ukrainian football club have loftier aims, financing hospital care abroad for wounded soldiers and finding new homes for orphans.

The club – whose lifting of the 2009 UEFA Cup makes it one of only two Ukrainian teams to win a European club competition – has through its foundation Shakhtar Social spared no expense since Russia began its attacks on Ukraine in February 2022.

They have paid 100,000 euros ($110,000) each for five severely wounded soldiers to be sent for medical treatment in hospitals in Israel, the United States and Spain.

For our live updates from Saturday (April 16), click here.