Russia’s Role in the Black Sea Disrupted

Ukraine is making diplomatic and military progress amid signs Moscow is struggling to enforce its Black Sea blockade, and some of its potential non-Western allies appear willing to discuss peace at Kyiv’s terms.

Upcoming on Visegrad Insight:

• Albin Sybera will break down the significance in shifting Slovak polls ahead of next month’s election.
• Volodymyr Yermolenko expands on the symbolic and very real lawlessness of occupied territories in Ukraine.

EU/REGIONAL

• Nearly 40 countries from the Global Soth and non-aligned countries attended the Saudi Arabia summit on peace in Ukraine along with representatives of the US and other Kyiv’s allies as President Zelenskyy continues his push to isolate Moscow.
• The Chinese representative who attended, Europe envoy  Li Hui, expressed support for continuing the dialogue in the Kyiv-designed formula, although he did not clearly back the call for respecting Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
• The US and China will resume diplomatic dialogue on contentious issues such as the Ukraine war and tensions in the Indo-Pacific, following a meeting between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Chinese counterpart in Washington last week.
• Global shipping company Maersk said it expects this year’s shipping volumes to drop between one and four per cent, confirming China-led global slowdown is deeper than had been expected.
• The EU countries issued 3.7 million visas to non-EU nationals in 2022, a 26 per cent increase from 2021, according to Eurostat. Over 40 per cent of such visas were work-related, reflecting Europe’s demographic necessity of importing labour.

Russian ships damaged in the Black Sea

UKRAINE