The Washington Post editorial board urges the West to confront Putin’s destructive war on grain. Russia blocks Ukrainian access to its ports and steals Ukrainian grain, which is nothing else than applying a threat of world hunger and food insecurity as a war tactic. This is an attempt to blackmail Ukrainian allies forcing them to drop off sanctions against Russia and Belarus. The authors believe that giving Putin and Lukashenko a break now would be “utterly misguided”. Instead, Putin must be held accountable for putting multiple countries at risk of hunger. These nations, including African, Middle East, and East Asian countries have to start speaking out loud to Putin. Turkey has to continue negotiating an exit corridor for Ukrainian grain, and Chinese president Xi Jinping has to explain to his “good friend” that world famine will only get him more enemies, writes the article.
As the European Parliament has recommended the EU provide Ukraine with a candidacy member status, the Foreign Affairs published an op-ed by Andreas Umland, an analyst at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs (SIDA), who discusses perspectives of Ukraine getting this status and potential consequences of such decision. First, even an actual candidacy with a clear path for accession is a long to-do list that might become a long transition period. This scenario is probably not on the table, as disclosed by Italian prime minister Mario Draghi earlier in May. Umland thinks that a more realistic scenario is upgrading the status of Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova to potential candidates. Such a decision would still be the next step from the countries’ current associated partners’ status and eventually change the geopolitics of Eastern Europe. This would signalize an apparent dedication of the West to speed up Eastern Europe’s transition and ensure the region’s future stability. An opportunity for future membership will help introduce reforms complying with EU standards and overcome the local resistance from the opponents of such reforms. Potential candidate status for the three countries would also send a strong message to Russia, challenging the narrative of “non-existense” of these nations. Finally, writes Umland, the EU’s dedication to eventually accept Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia as members would be a much-needed morale boost to their citizens.
Politico published an article exploring how Elon Musk’s space satellites impacted the flow of the war in Ukraine. The Starlinks shipped to Ukraine in the first weeks of war became a powerful tool both on the battlefield and in the informational fight. Ukrainian drones have been relying on Starlinks to drop bombs on Russian positions, allowing civilians and military in besieged cities to maintain connections with the outer world. The whole world was witnessing the impressive ability of SpaceX to deliver, install, and protect from hackers’ attacks the thousands of portable stations in the country in war. According to Politico’s sources, Ukraine started negotiations with SpaceX in early 2022 as Zelensky, and his team realized that internet access would be critical in the upcoming war. In response, SpaceX quickly installed 50 satellites ready to be used in Ukraine, and two days following the invasion, SpaceX shipped the Starlink equipment in response to Ukraine’s digital minister’s tweet. According to SpaceX, the funding for satellite communication systems in Ukraine came from private sources, and SpaceX covers all internet access costs. Yet, USAID reported buying 1.300 satellite dishes, with SpaceX donating 3.600 stations. EU allies have helped with logistical support, according to a source, the hardware linking satellites with local internet infrastructure was housed in Poland to avoid the risk of a Russian attack. Overall, the speed and efficiency of this technology is impressive, according to multiple sources in and outside of Ukraine.