War in Ukraine: Microsoft warns of hacker attacks against Kiev allies

Enlarge image

Microsoft office in New York

Photo: Mike Segar / REUTERS

This article will be continuously updated.

UN organization expects world grain harvest to be almost at previous year's level

5.58 a.m .:

Despite the war in Ukraine and the increased fertilizer prices, the United Nations estimates that the world grain harvest this year will be only slightly lower than in 2021. So far, 2.785 billion tons are expected, which would be around 23 million tons less than in the previous marketing year, said Josef Schmidhuber, economist at the UN agricultural organization Fao in Rome.

"That's a very small difference, and really just a rough estimate right now." The world's grain harvest includes wheat, corn, and rice.

The war in Ukraine has both reduced the supply of wheat on the world market and contributed to a shortage of fertilizer, which is important for crop yields on many soils.

"Worldwide, fertilizer consumption fell in the past marketing year, by about 1.6 percent," said the deputy head of the UN organization's markets and trade department.

In a long-term comparison, the effects of the international financial crisis were more serious: "But that's still little compared to the 2008/2009 financial year, when we had a contraction of more than eight percent," he said.

"The big question is, of course, what will happen in the new harvest year?" In his analysis, he assumes that less nitrogen fertilizer will be used, less phosphorus fertilizer as well, but above all significantly less potash fertilizer, said Schmidhuber.

"In terms of trend, I would assume that the global crop volume will fall again a bit in the coming year, which, with constantly increased demand, would lead to the stocks falling further." However, the economist emphasized that these expectations are subject to change: “But that depends on a lot of factors, not the least of which is the weather.

In this respect, a prognosis is not yet possible.«

EU summit today decides on candidate status for Ukraine

5.45 a.m .:

At a summit in Brussels from 3 p.m. today, the European Union will decide whether Ukraine will receive the status of an EU accession candidate.

Ahead of the deliberations of the heads of state and government, there are signs of broad support for a corresponding recommendation from the EU Commission.

However, the decision must be taken unanimously by all 27 states.

In addition to Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova are also waiting for the prospect of

.

The Commission also recommends candidate status for Moldova.

Georgia should only get it when it meets certain reform requirements.

All three countries had officially applied for EU membership shortly after the start of the Russian war against Ukraine.

The heads of state and government are also expected to discuss how Ukraine can be further supported in the war.

An additional 500 million euros for new weapons deliveries are under discussion.

In the morning, a summit of the EU and the states of the western Balkans will deal with the EU perspective of Serbia, Albania, North Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo and Montenegro.

That happened in the night

5.05 a.m .:

Ukrainian troops are increasingly under pressure in Luhansk.

The US government wants to make proposals to support Kiev at the G7 summit.

And: Is there movement in the grain blockade?

The overview.

Majority sees relationship with Russia permanently damaged

4.10 a.m .:

A majority of German citizens consider German-Russian relations to be permanently damaged because of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.

In a survey by the opinion research institute Forsa on behalf of the magazine "Internationale Politik", more than two-thirds of those questioned (71 percent) consider it impossible that a return to relations between Moscow and Berlin is possible with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as she is existed before the start of the war.

Just under a quarter (24 percent) believe that relations could go back to the way they were before the war ended.

At 32 percent, men are more likely than women (17 percent) to believe that a return is possible.

In addition, 81 percent more people in eastern Germany believe that German-Russian relations will remain permanently damaged even after the end of the war than in the west (69 percent).

With regard to party political preferences, it is striking in the survey that Union voters (77 percent), voters for the SPD (76 percent) and the AfD (75 percent), followed by those of the Greens (72 percent) are most strongly convinced that there is there will be no return to pre-war relations.

Supporters of the FDP are less likely to share this opinion (66 percent).

China's head of state Xi hosts virtual summit of Brics countries

4.01 a.m .:

Chinese President Xi Jinping is hosting a virtual summit of the so-called Brics countries today, which include China, Russia, Brazil, India and South Africa.

It is the group's first meeting since the start of Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine.

Because of the sanctions imposed by the West, Russia is "actively redirecting its economic contacts and trade flows to reliable international partners, first and foremost the Brics countries," said Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin yesterday.

China and India are buying large quantities of Russian oil.

More than 40 percent of the world's population lives in the Brics format of leading emerging countries, which was founded in 2009.

The five countries generate almost a quarter of the world's gross domestic product.

Movement in negotiations on Russian grain blockade?

2.48 a.m .:

Negotiations to break through the Russian grain blockade in Ukraine are apparently making progress.

UN Security Council circles confirmed to the dpa news agency that the conflicting parties could meet with UN Secretary-General António Guterres in Turkey – possibly as early as next week.

The talks are at a point where the UN chief would negotiate directly with the Russians and Ukrainians to secure a deal.

However, diplomats in New York warned against too much optimism: So far there has been no agreement on the export of grain from Ukraine across the Black Sea.

The mistrust between Moscow and Kyiv is still very high and there are still a number of hurdles in the negotiations.

Another open question is whether Russia is sincere about its involvement in the talks, a Western diplomat said.

The United Nations only officially announced that the negotiations were going on.

The international community has been demanding that Russia allow the export of Ukrainian grain for weeks.

Ukraine complains that its ports in the Black Sea are blocked by the Russian Navy.

Both countries are among the largest wheat exporters and play an important role in global food security.

The United Nations recently warned of the worst famine in decades.

Microsoft: Ukraine's allies targeted by Russian hackers

1.42 a.m .:

According to Microsoft’s findings, Russian hackers are attacking Ukraine’s western allies on a large scale.

The software group warned that they were particularly targeting government computers in NATO countries.

Target number one is the United States, but overall Microsoft's experts have identified attacks by Russian hackers on 128 organizations in 42 countries outside of Ukraine.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, they have succeeded in penetrating the attacked networks in 29 percent of the attacks, it said.

At least every fourth successful attack has demonstrably siphoned off data.

At the same time, Microsoft emphasized that Russia had attacked Ukraine's IT infrastructure with both cyber attacks and missiles since the beginning of the war.

However, thanks to protective measures, the systems have proven to be largely resilient.

Grain storage terminals in Mykolaiv bombed, according to operators

1.38 am:

According to the operators, two grain storage terminals at the port of the Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv were bombed by Russia.

A Viterra spokesman said one person was slightly injured in the attack on one of the port terminals.

Two silos caught fire and a third was damaged.

The Viterra terminal has a storage capacity of 160,000 tons and includes, among other things, a production facility for vegetable oil.

The extent of the damage to the second terminal, which is operated by the Bunge group, was unclear according to the company.

The ports of Mykolaiv and Odessa have been blocked by Russian troops since the beginning of the war.

Agricultural exports by sea are no longer possible.

US government wants to increase pressure on Russia at G7 summit in Bavaria

0.20 a.m .:

According to the White House, the USA wants to increase the pressure on Russia at the G7 summit in Bavaria.

A senior US government official said the United States would make "a number of concrete proposals" at the meeting that begins this Sunday.

This should also demonstrate the common support for Ukraine.

In addition to other topics, the agenda would also include the consequences of the war on price increases and on energy and food security worldwide.

The G7 would also "promote the vision of a world based on freedom and openness, not on coercion, not on aggression and not on spheres of influence," the government official said.

Biden is leaving for Germany this Saturday.

In Bavaria, the US Democrat also wants to meet Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) for a bilateral meeting.

In addition to Germany and the USA, the »Group of 7« also includes the other large democratic industrial states of Canada, Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan.

Germany currently chairs the group and is therefore hosting the summit in Schloss Elmau, which runs from Sunday to Tuesday.

After the G7 meeting, the heads of state and government of the NATO countries will meet in Madrid on Wednesday for their two-day summit.

At this summit, too, the focus will be on the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.

A US government official said Biden helped revitalize the alliance, making it more united than ever.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has failed in his plan to split NATO with his war of aggression against Ukraine.

col/dpa/AFP/Reuters