Eastern African bloc seeks summit to deploy regional force in Sudan

An eastern African bloc called on Monday for a regional summit to consider deploying troops into Sudan to protect civilians, after nearly three months of violence between the army and a paramilitary faction.

Fighting that erupted on April 15 in Khartoum, Sudan's capital, has spread to other parts of the country and driven more than 2.9 million people from their homes.

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), made up of eight states in and around the Horn of Africa, met in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa to kick-start a peace process for the conflict in Sudan.

But the initiative faced a setback as a delegation from Sudan's army failed to attend the first day of meetings, having rejected Kenya's president as head of the committee facilitating the talks.

IGAD said in a statement it had agreed to request a summit of another regional body, the 10-member Eastern Africa Standby Force, "to consider the possible deployment of the EASF for the protection of civilians and guarantee humanitarian access".

Sudan is a member of both bodies, as are Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Uganda.

Diplomatic efforts to halt fighting between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have so far proved ineffective, with competing initiatives creating confusion over how the warring parties might be brought to negotiate.

IGAD said it regretted the absence of a delegation from the Sudan army, which it said had earlier confirmed attendance.

Sudan's foreign affairs ministry, which is controlled by the army, said the delegation did not turn up because IGAD had ignored its request to replace Kenya's President William Ruto as head of the committee spearheading the talks.

Ruto "lacks impartiality in the ongoing crisis," the ministry said through the state news agency. Last month it accused Kenya of harbouring the RSF.

Neither Ruto's office nor the Kenyan ministry of foreign affairs responded immediately when Reuters sought comment. The Kenyan government said last month the president was a neutral arbiter who was duly appointed by the IGAD summit.

Following the meeting, Ruto called for an unconditional ceasefire and the establishment of a humanitarian zone — spanning a radius of 30 kilometres in Khartoum — to aid the delivery of humanitarian assistance.

Talks hosted in Jeddah and sponsored by the United States and Saudi Arabia were suspended last month. Egypt has said it would host a separate summit of Sudan's neighbours on July 13 to discuss ways to end the conflict.

Unlike the talks in Jeddah, the meeting in Addis Ababa was attended by members of a civilian coalition that shared power with the military in Sudan before a coup in 2021.

IGAD said that along with the African Union, it would immediately start a "civilian engagement process" aimed at delivering peace.

Reuters

Twitter owner Elon Musk has escalated his feud with fellow technology billionaire Mark Zuckerberg by branding him a “cuck” and suggesting that the two social media titans should compete by measuring their male anatomy.

“Zuck is a cuck,” Musk said on Sunday in a Twitter post. “I propose a literal dick-measuring contest.”

Musk and Zuckerberg -- who rank as the world’s richest and seventh-richest individuals, respectively – have been trading barbs on social media for weeks. Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc., accepted Musk’s challenge to a cage match last month.

Their rivalry has also heated up on the social media front. Meta’s new Twitter-lookalike social media platform, called Threads, surpassed 100 million users on Monday, just five days after its official launch. A law firm representing Musk sent Meta a cease-and-desist letter last week, claiming the company stole Twitter’s trade secrets to create Threads.

“Competition is fine, cheating is not,” Musk tweeted last week. He has accused Meta of developing Threads as a “copycat” application by hiring dozens of former Twitter employees who had access to the platform’s intellectual property.

Meta spokesman Andy Stone denied the allegations, saying no one on the Threads engineering team was a former Twitter employee.

Threads is a companion app to another Meta-owned platform, Instagram. Musk criticized the concept behind the new venture on Saturday, saying, “Threads is just Instagram minus pics, which makes no sense, given that thirst pics are the main reason people use that app. How many times have you read comments on Insta pics and wished there were more? Personally, never.”

Russia Today

Economists have long argued that productivity is the foundation of prosperity. The only way a country can increase its standard of living sustainably is to produce more goods and services with fewer resources. Since the Industrial Revolution, this has been achieved through innovation, which is why productivity has become synonymous, in the public imagination, with technological progress and research and development.

Our intuition about how innovation promotes productivity is shaped by everyday experience in business. Firms that adopt new technologies tend to become more productive, allowing them to outcompete technological laggards. But a productive society is not the same as a productive firm. Something that promotes productivity in a business may not work, or may even backfire, at the level of a whole country or economy. Whereas firms have the luxury of focusing on the productivity of only those resources they choose to employ, a society needs to enhance the productivity of all of its people.

But many economists (and others) have failed to appreciate this distinction, owing to the assumption that technological progress will eventually trickle down to everyone, even if its immediate benefits accrue only to a small group of firms and investors. As economists Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson remind us in their useful new book, this belief has not quite been true historically. The Industrial Revolution may have inaugurated the period of modern economic growth, but it did not produce advances in well-being for most ordinary workers for the better part of a century.

Worse, the conventional narrative may have become even less true with the most recent wave of technological advances. New technologies may fail to lift all boats because their benefits can be overwhelmingly captured by a small group of players – be it a few firms or narrow segments of the workforce. One culprit is inappropriate institutions and regulations, which skew bargaining power in the economy or restrict entry by outsiders to modern sectors. Another is the nature of technology itself: innovation often empowers only specific groups, such as highly skilled workers and professionals.

Consider one of the paradoxes of the hyper-globalization era. After the 1990s, as trade costs fell and manufacturing production spread around the world, many firms in low- and middle-income countries became integrated into global supply chains and adopted state-of-the-art production techniques. As a result, these firms’ productivity increased by leaps and bounds. Yet the productivity of the economies in which they were domiciled stagnated in many cases, or even regressed.

Mexico provides a startling case study, since it was once a poster child for hyper-globalization. Thanks to the government’s liberalizing reforms in the 1980s and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in the 1990s, Mexico experienced a boom in manufactured exports and inward foreign direct investment. Yet the result was a spectacular failure where it really mattered. Along with many others in Latin America, Mexico experienced negative total factor productivity growth in subsequent decades.

As a recent analysis by the economists Oscar Fentanes and Santiago Levy demonstrates, Mexican manufacturing did indeed become more productive as it was forced to compete globally. While less productive firms that failed to adapt eventually shut down, many remaining firms adopted new technologies and became more productive.

The problem was twofold. First, manufacturing firms – especially formal ones – shrank in terms of employment, absorbing an ever-smaller share of the economy’s labor force. Then, the rest of the economy, which was dominated by small, informal firms, became less and less productive. The upshot was that productivity gains in the (shrinking) globally oriented manufacturing sector were more than offset by the poor performance in other activities, mostly informal services.

Fentanes and Levy attribute these consequences to Mexican labor and social-insurance regulations, which they claim encouraged informality and hampered the growth of formal-sector firms. Yet one can find the same pattern of productivity polarization in many other Latin American economies, as well as in Sub-Saharan countries.

An alternative explanation concerns the changing nature of manufacturing technology itself. So great are the skill and capital requirements of integrating into global value chains that countries poorly endowed with these resources face sharply rising cost curves, preventing their firms from expanding and absorbing much labor. Workers flocking to the cities from the countryside have little choice but to crowd into low-productivity petty services.

Whatever the underlying cause, this issue exemplifies why government strategies to boost productivity can miss the mark. Whether it comes in the form of plugging into global value chains, subsidizing R&D, or investment tax credits, conventional policies often target the wrong problem. In many cases, the binding constraint is not a lack of innovation in the most advanced firms, but rather the large productive gaps between them and the rest of the economy. Raising the bottom – by providing training, public inputs, and business services to smaller, service-oriented firms – can be more effective than lifting the top.

There are lessons here for the new age of artificial intelligence. Large language models’ potential to perform a wide range of tasks at greater speed has generated much excitement about significant future productivity growth. But, once again, the overall impact of this technology will depend on the extent to which its benefits can be disseminated throughout the economy.

As Arjun Ramani and Zhengdong Wang argue in a recent commentary, the productivity benefits of AI may be limited if important parts of the economy – construction, face-to-face services, human-dependent creative work – remain immune to it. This would be a version of the so-called Baumol cost disease, whereby the rising relative prices of certain activities choke off economy-wide improvements in living standards.

These considerations should not turn us into techno-pessimists or Luddites. But they do caution against equating productivity with technology, R&D, and innovation. Scientific and technological innovation may be necessary for the productivity growth that enriches societies, but it is not sufficient. Transforming technological progress into broad productivity growth requires policies specifically designed to encourage broad diffusion, avoid productive dualism, and ensure inclusivity.

Project Syndicate

Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and one of the world's wealthiest individuals, is known for his insightful wisdom and notable quotes. Here are four memorable tips to help you navigate your path to success:

Bill Gates on embracing your uniqueness

Don't compare yourself with anyone in this world...if you do so, you are insulting yourself.

In today's interconnected world, it's easy to fall into the trap of comparing ourselves with others. Social media platforms, in particular, amplify this tendency. Unfortunately, constant comparisons can lead to a detrimental cycle of self-doubt, anxiety, and insecurity.

When we compare ourselves to others, we often forget that we are merely looking at snapshots of their lives. Consequently, we place unrealistic expectations upon ourselves, chasing an elusive version of success that might not align with our passions, values, and strengths.

Bill Gates' quote reminds us of the value of self-acceptance and recognizing our individuality. Each of us possesses unique talents, experiences, and perspectives that shape who we are. 

So, instead of seeking validation and approval from external comparisons, Gates encourages us to embrace our uniqueness and focus on personal growth and improvement. Anything less is an insult to our intelligence and dignity.

Bill Gates on failure and learning from mistakes

Gates once said:

It's fine to celebrate success, but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.

Success is not a black-and-white concept or an all-or-nothing achievement, leading us to perceive anything short of success as failure. Regrettably, this belief fosters fear of failure and discourages attempts. Embracing a more nuanced view of success can liberate us from this fear and empower us to take risks and pursue our goals with a broader perspective.

Bill Gates on taking personal responsibility for your life

Gates said:

If you are born poor, it's not your mistake. But if you die poor, it's your mistake. 

Being born into poverty, facing economic hardships, or experiencing societal disadvantages are not choices people consciously make. 

However, the second part of Gates' quote carries a transformative message: taking responsibility for one's life and choices. While the circumstances at birth may be challenging, the trajectory of one's life can be significantly influenced by the decisions made along the way. 

Embracing personal responsibility empowers individuals to take control of their lives, break free from the cycle of poverty, and pursue opportunities for growth and success.

Bill Gates on avoiding the trap of complacency

Gates said:

Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose.

People have interpreted this quote in several ways. For me, I look at the possible negative effects achieving a win can have on our psyche. When we achieve our big goals and dreams, it's an exhilarating feeling of accomplishment. 

But let's be real. Success can lull even the smartest people into a false sense of security, making them believe they're invincible. That's when complacency creeps in, stunting our growth and blocking the path to further achievements.

To avoid the pitfalls of complacency, successful entrepreneurs cultivate a growth mindset that keeps them open to new ideas and encourages calculated risks to create and innovate. They stay grounded and seek feedback from peers, mentors, and customers. So, heed the advice of Bill Gates and stop thinking you can't lose. 

Be humble, listen to the perspectives of others, and continuously learn from them. That's a good strategy on the road to your success.

Inc

Over half of the domestic flights in Nigeria between January and March were delayed, an official report states, confirming the complaints of travellers about incessant flight delays in the country’s airports.

Of the total 18,288 domestic flights within the period, 10,128 were delayed (55 per cent), the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) stated in a report tagged “Executive Summary on International and Domestic Flight Operations.”

Many Nigerians have lamented the incessant delay in domestic flights by operators across the country’s airports. Many have taken to social media to narrate their experiences with some flights delayed for over 24 hours.

In its report, the NCAA said the 11 domestic airlines operating in the country also had 284 flight cancellations within the period.

The report also stated that 2,791,591 passengers passed through the nation’s domestic airports in the first quarter of 2023. It indicates that, of the 2,791,591 passengers, 1,391,560 were inbound and 1,400,031 outbound.

Also, the summary indicates passenger traffic of 870,776 on international airlines operations in the first quarter of the year.

The breakdown shows that while inbound passenger traffic of 375,700 was recorded, outbound traffic was 495,076 on the international routes.

In the first quarter, 25 foreign airlines operated 3,073 flights on international routes, while 11 domestic airlines operated 18,288 flights on domestic routes.

Also, 1,193 complaints were received from passengers by the NCAA, on delayed flights on international routes, with 24 complaints of cancellations and six of air returns.

On domestic flights, 10,128 flights were delayed within the first three months, with 284 cancelled and 28 cases of air returns.

The report indicates that 499 flights were delayed on foreign flights in January, with Air Peace topping the list with 53, followed by Asky with 45, Qatar Airways with 41 and British Airways with 33, amongst others.

In February, delayed flights were 325, with AWA recording 30, Ethiopian Airlines 33, Kenya Airways 11; while in March, 369 flights were delayed, with Qatar Airways recording 32, United Airlines had 1 and Air Peace recorded 64.

There were seven cancelled flights in January, 13 in February and four in March.

Delayed flights

Larry Madowo was looking forward to travelling to Port Harcourt from Lagos when he got a notification from Air Peace Airlines that his flight will be “delayed for operational reasons.” Scheduled for 3 p.m. on 23 October 2022, the one-hour flight was delayed for five hours.

“I sat at the Lagos airport for nearly 5 hours,” said Madowo, CNN’s International Correspondent. “Every Air Peace flight to a domestic destination was delayed due to operational reasons that day,” he wrote on Twitter.

The airline replied to Madowo saying “We do not deliberately delay flights. In fact, it causes a huge strain on our operations but sometimes, such delays are sadly inevitable due to unforeseen circumstances or factors we cannot control.”

“This is not the experience we promise our customers. This was a one-off and we’re unhappy it happened,” the airline added.

Madowo and several travellers have had their sheer horrible experiences with incessant flight delays in Nigerian airports.

Airlines with the highest percentage of delayed flights

At 84 per cent, Overland Airlines was the most notorious for delaying flights, according to the NCAA. Azman Airlines and United Airlines trailed Overland, delaying 73 per cent of their flights respectively.

Dana Air was behind by 67 per cent while Max Air had 65 per cent of delayed flights.

Air Peace, Nigeria’s largest domestic carrier followed, delaying 58 per cent of its flights; Arik Air 57 per cent; and Aero Contractors 56 per cent.

Ibom Air and Green Africa each had 35 per cent of delayed flights during the period under review.

Value Jet recorded the least percentage of delayed flights at 22 per cent.

As flying remains less than dependable, some passengers say it is important to add some buffer time into your travel schedule to accommodate delays and cancellations.

Rabi Mohammed normally avoids Max Airlines (they made her miss a job opportunity four years ago), but the carrier was scheduled for her by an agent, a perfectly timed option for her Sunday trip from Kano to Lagos. So she gave them another chance in May 2022.

Unfortunately, the 90-minute flight was delayed for well over nine hours, she said.

Airlines with the highest number of delayed flights

In terms of volume, Air Peace delayed 3,754 flights, the highest number of delayed flights in the first three months of the year. The airline also operated 6,521 flights during the period under review, the highest number by domestic airliner.

NCAA data shows that Max Airline operated 1,565 flights out of which 1013 flights were delayed, making it the second domestic airline with the highest number of delayed flights in the first quarter of the year.

Arik Airlines followed with 926 delayed flights out of 1,619 flights it operated while United Airlines delayed at least 910 flights out of its 1,243.

Of the 2,312 flights it operated between January and March, State-owned Ibom Air delayed 746 flights. Aero Contractors delayed 624 flights out of a total of 1,123.

Meanwhile, Overland Airline delayed 605 flights out of 719; Dana Air had 474 delayed flights out of 711 while Green Africa delayed 443 out of its total 1,182.

Azman Airline operated 527 flights and delayed 385 during the first quarter of the year. Value Jet had a total of 766 flights. It delayed 248 of that number.

The NCAA report also stated that 2,791,591 passengers passed through the nation’s domestic airports in the first quarter of 2023, data shows.

It indicates that, of the 2,791,591 passengers, 1,391,560 were inbound and 1,400,031 outbound.

The NCAA’s latest data shows that schedule changes and marathon delays are wreaking havoc on passengers’ plans and stress levels, and yet they show no signs of stopping.

The Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations (Nig.CARs) 2015 which is being amended guarantees that passengers get full refunds when their flights are delayed or cancelled.

“Every passenger shall, before purchasing any ticket for a contract of carriage by the air carrier or its agents, be entitled to the full, fair, and clear disclosure of all the terms and conditions of the carriage about to be purchased.

“The disclosure shall include, among others, documents required to be presented at check-in, provisions on check-in deadlines, refund and rebooking policies, and procedures and responsibility for delayed and/or cancelled flights,” the regulations said.

PT

Capital inflows into Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, declined 28% in the three months through March to $1.1 billion compared with a year ago, while they rose 6.8% from the previous quarter, according to the statistics agency.

The largest capital importats came from portfolio investors, which accounted for 57.3%; “other investment” was responsible for 38.31%, while foreign direct investment was 4.2%, the Abuja-based National Bureau of Statistics said in statement on its website.

The United Kingdom accounted for the highest capital importation by country of origin at 59.5%, followed by the United Arab Emirates and the US with 9.6% and 8.4% respectively, it said.

Foreign investment inflows have slowed in the West African nation in the past years owing to tight capital controls, rising insecurity and poor infrastructure that deter external investors.

However, the new government led by Bola Tinubu has begun moves that could revive the economy and boost inflows. He has ended a fuel subsidy that cost $10 billion last year, removed a controversial central bank governor and eased foreign-exchange controls.

Bloomberg

The volume of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, consumed across the country in the first half of 2023 was 11.26 billion litres, the Federal Government has said.

It was, however, observed that after the removal of subsidy on petrol, following the pronouncement by President Bola Tinubu on May 29, 2023, PMS consumption reduced by an average of 18.5 million litres daily in June.

Data obtained from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority in Abuja, on Sunday, showed that between January 1 and May 28, 2023, which was the pre-deregulation period, the total amount of petrol consumed nationwide was 9.9 billion litres.

The average consumption for the 148-day period was put at 66.9 million litres, indicating the country consumed an average of 66.9 million litres of petrol daily during the five-month period when subsidy on petrol was still in place.

But figures from the Federal Government agency indicated that between June 1 to June 28, 2023, which was described as the post-deregulation period, the total petrol consumption across the country was 1.36 billion litres, while the average daily consumption was put at 48.43 million litres.

An analysis of the data by our correspondent showed that the difference between the average monthly consumption figures during the pre-deregulation and post-deregulation periods was about 18.5 million litres.

This implies that the average daily consumption of petrol across the country reduced by about 18.5 million litres after subsidy on commodity was stopped by the Federal Government.

It was, however, observed that petrol consumption rose above 100 million litres in some days, while it fell to below 10 million litres in few other days.

A random pick of petrol consumption figures contained in the NMDPRA report, for instance, showed that on March 8, April 20, and May 16, Nigerians consumed 103.6 million litres, 105.02 million litres, and 101.9 million litres respectively.

These were during the pre-deregulation days, as figures from the post-deregulation period indicated that the country never consumed beyond 78.84 million litres all through the 28-day period captured in the document.

In fact, the 78.84 million litres was consumed on June 20, and it was the highest consumption figure during the post-deregulation period, while the lowest figure during the same period was the 470,000 litres that was consumed nationwide on June 11.

Punch

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been elected chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). 

He was elected at the 63rd ordinary session of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government in Bissau, the capital city of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau.

Speaking after he was elected, Tinubu promised his “unalloyed commitment” to providing purposeful leadership and serving the interest of the community.

“Indeed, I’m humbled and honoured by this trust, and want to assure you of my unalloyed commitment to provide the necessary leadership with dedication to serve the interest of the community,” he said.

He also called for collective actions from member-states to combat insecurity and terrorism affecting the progress and development of the region.

“On peace and security, the threat has reached an alarming level, and needs urgent actions in addressing the challenges,” Tinubu said.

“Indeed, without a peaceful environment, progress and development in the region will continue to remain elusive. In this regard, we must remain committed to the utilisation of all regional frameworks at our disposal to address the menace of insecurity,”

Tinubu is the eighth Nigerian leader to be elected chairman of ECOWAS — Buhari headed the bloc twice, as military head of state and then as a democratic president.

The ECOWAS summit in Guinea-Bissau was Tinubu’s first international outing on the African continent since he became Nigerian president on May 29.

He had attended the summit for ‘A New Global Financing Pact’ hosted by  Emmanuel Macron, French president, in Paris, France, in June.

ECOWAS was formed in 1975 and currently has 15 member states with a combined population of 387 million and nominal GDP of $816 billion.

Member states are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

The Cable

An increasing number of countries are repatriating gold reserves as protection against the sort of sanctions imposed by the West on Russia, according to an Invesco survey of central bank and sovereign wealth funds published on Monday.

The financial market rout last year caused widespread losses for sovereign money managers who are "fundamentally" rethinking their strategies on the belief that higher inflation and geopolitical tensions are here to stay.

Over 85% of the 85 sovereign wealth funds and 57 central banks that took part in the annual Invesco Global Sovereign Asset Management Study believe that inflation will now be higher in the coming decade than in the last.

Gold and emerging market bonds are seen as good bets in that environment, but last year's freezing of almost half of Russia's $640 billion of gold and forex reserves by the West in response to the invasion of Ukraine also appears to have triggered a shift.

The survey showed a "substantial share" of central banks were concerned by the precedent that had been set. Almost 60% of respondents said it had made gold more attractive, while 68% were keeping reserves at home compared to 50% in 2020.

One central bank, quoted anonymously, said: "We did have it (gold) held in London... but now we've transferred it back to own country to hold as a safe haven asset and to keep it safe."

Rod Ringrow, Invesco's head of official institutions, who oversaw the report, said that is a broadly-held view.

"'If it's my gold then I want it in my country' (has) been the mantra we have seen in the last year or so," he said.

DIVERSIFY

Geopolitical concerns, combined with opportunities in emerging markets, are also encouraging some central banks to diversify away from the dollar.

A growing 7% believe rising U.S. debt is also a negative for the greenback, although most still see no alternative to it as the world's reserve currency. Those that see China's yuan as a potential contender fell to 18%, from 29% last year.

Nearly 80% of the 142 institutions surveyed see geopolitical tensions as the biggest risk over the next decade, while 83% cited inflation as a concern over the next 12 months.

Infrastructure is now seen as the most attractive asset class, particularly those projects involving renewable energy generation.

Concerns over China mean India remains one of the most attractive countries for investment for a second year running, while the "near-shoring" trend, where companies build factories closer to where they sell their products, is boosting the likes of Mexico, Indonesia and Brazil.

As well as China, Britain and Italy are seen as less attractive, while rising interest rates coupled with work-from-home and online shopping habits which became embedded during the Covid-19 outbreak meant property is now the least attractive private asset.

Ringrow said the wealth funds that performed better last year were those that recognised the risks posed by inflated asset prices and were willing to make substantial portfolio changes. It would be the same going forward.

"The funds and the central banks are now trying to get to grips with higher inflation," he said. "It's a big sea change."

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Trump says he can end war in 24 hours; Zelenskyy says Biden could in 5 minutes

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday dismissed claims by Donald Trump that he could end the war in 24 hours, saying the current GOP presidential front-runner failed to do so while president.

Zelenskyy, speaking through a translator on ABC’s “This Week," noted that Ukraine has been battling Russian proxies in the Donbas region since Russia seized Crimea in 2014. Trump served as president from 2016 to 2020.

"The sole desire to bring the war to an end is beautiful, but this desire should be based on some real-life experience," Zelenskyy said. "Donald Trump had already these 24 hours once in his time. We were at war, not a full-scale war. ... (Trump) had that time at his disposal, but he must have had some other priorities."

Trump has claimed to have a close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but details on his plans to halt the war have been vague. Zelenskyy said that if Trump meant to end the war by forcing Ukraine to cede territory, "(President Joe) Biden could have brought it to an end even in five minutes, but we would not agree."

** Biden said he was "optimistic" Sweden would soon get the green light to join NATO. He said Sweden is making some adjustments to its laws at the behest of Turkey, the holdout against Swedish membership, and that a deal could include strengthening Turkey's air defenses.

** Russia claimed it shot down an Ukraine missile over Russia's Rostov region along the Ukraine border. Regional Gov. Vasily Golubev said no damage or injuries were reported.

** Biden says Putin's goal is to 'destroy NATO'

A primary goal of Putin's ambitious invasion of Ukraine was to destroy NATO, and keeping the alliance together is critical for the security of the U.S. and the West, Biden told CNN in an interview released Sunday. Biden and other NATO leaders will meet in Vilnius, Lithuania, starting Tuesday. Talks will be centered around providing Ukraine military support and a possible path to membership in the alliance.

"I believe Putin has had an overwhelming objective from the time he launched 185,000 troops into Ukraine, and that was to break NATO," Biden said. "So, holding NATO together is really critical."

Biden said when he first met Putin two years ago in Geneva, the Russian leader sought a commitment from the U.S. to keep Ukraine out of NATO. Biden declined to make the pledge, citing the alliance's "open-door policy. We're not going to shut anybody out."

But Biden acknowledged there is little desire among current NATO members to "bring Ukraine into the NATO family now" because the defense commitment would mean that all alliance members, including the U.S., would be at war with Russia. He also stressed that it will take Ukraine some time to meet NATO qualifications.

"I have spoken with Zelenskyy at length about this, and one of the things I indicated is the United States would be ready to provide, while the process was going on ... security a la the security we provide for Israel," he said.

** Zelenskyy: Counteroffensive advancing; 'initiative is on our side'

The Ukraine counteroffensive is slowly gaining ground, but "every day means new losses of Ukrainians," Zelenskyy said in the ABC interview. The Ukrainian president noted that several months ago his military was forced to retreat from some areas of eastern Ukraine. Now some of that land is being taken back. He dismissed claims that some Western leaders were disappointed in the pace of the gains, saying all are well aware of the "total strength of Russians" and amount of equipment they have at their disposal. 

"Of course, we would all like to see the counteroffensive accomplished in a shorter period of time, but there's reality," Zelenskyy said, adding that "today the initiative is on our side."

** White House 'not involved' in secret Ukraine talks

The White House says it was aware of but did not encourage or sanction secret talks about Ukraine between a group of former senior U.S. officials and Russians close to Putin’s government.

Members of the Council on Foreign Relations met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in April to begin laying the groundwork for an end to the war, NBC reported last week. The National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, John Kirby, said Sunday that the U.S. government “was not involved in any way” in the conversations.

“We weren’t passing messages through them,” Kirby said.

− Francesca Chambers

** Russian media portraying revolt in Putin's favor, British ministry says

Russia’s state-approved media, a critical tool as the Kremlin seeks to control the narrative around the war, was unprepared and taken aback by the Wagner mutiny of late June, the British Defense Ministry said in its latest update, noting that TV news shows kept their usual schedule.

Since then the state media have denied security forces reacted passively to the threat and stepped up their portrayal of the quelled insurrection as a Putin victory, highlighting his attempts at unifying the country behind him and making uncommon public appearances, most likely to project strength, the ministry said.

In addition, “the state started to play down the significance of Wagner owner Yevgeny Prigozhin and the mutiny, while tarnishing his character,’’ the assessment said.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

NATO powers in ‘frantic’ race to conceive Ukraine deal – Politico

Washington is reportedly rushing to complete an agreement with its most powerful NATO partners – the UK, Germany and France – on a set of security guarantees for Ukraine so the deal can be presented to the full bloc when the Western military alliance gathers for a summit this week in Vilnius.

The group’s power brokers have been holding “frantic, last-minute”negotiations to finalize their agreement on a security declaration for Kiev, Politico reported on Sunday, citing four unidentified officials familiar with the talks. The declaration would create an “umbrella” for all countries willing to provide ongoing military aid to Ukraine, even though details of the security commitments may vary from nation to nation.

The US, the UK, France and Germany have been discussing the issue with Ukrainian leaders for weeks and have “reached out” to other allies within NATO, the European Union and the G7, Politico said. The four governments aim to unveil their framework agreement at the summit in hopes that other members will join with them in the security pledges. The two-day event is scheduled to begin on Tuesday.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has pressed for NATO to accelerate his country’s bid to join the alliance, but multiple members of the bloc have said Kiev can’t be admitted at least until its conflict with Russia ends. German officials are reportedly reluctant to give Ukraine any guarantees on future membership, given concern that such a move could trigger a direct conflict with Russia.

In lieu of pledging NATO membership, Washington is willing to give Ukraine security assurances similar to those it provides Israel, US President Joe Biden told CNN in a recent interview.

Staffers for Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will try to “iron out last-minute details” at a meeting on Monday in London, Politico said. The allies may essentially promise to keep providing much of the aid that they have been giving Ukraine since Russia began its offensive against Kiev in February 2022.

“It is basically a guarantee toward Ukraine that we will – for a very long time to come – we will equip their armed forces, we will finance them, we will advise them, we will train them in order for them to have a deterrent force against any future aggression,” a senior NATO diplomat said. 

US lawmakers have squabbled in recent days over Ukraine’s NATO prospects. Multiple Republican members of the US House and Senate have argued that allowing Ukraine to join the alliance would make Americans less safe because it could trigger a catastrophic conflict with Russia.

** Half of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure damaged by Russia – minister

Half of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure has been damaged by Russian strikes, with some facilities knocked out of service for good, Energy Minister German Galushchenko said on Saturday.

Speaking on national TV, Galushchenko summed up the results of the Russian missile attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure, saying that the Ukrainian authorities registered 271 hits between October 10, 2022 and March 9, 2023.

“In terms of losses, 50% of the entire power grid system, including generation assets and the transmission system, has been hit by Russian strikes,” he stated, as quoted by local media. “Unfortunately, some facilities have been completely destroyed and cannot be restored.”

The energy minister said the Ukrainian authorities have embarked on the largest repair campaign in the country’s history. “The scale of destruction is enormous, and we have the task of restoring as much as possible by the next heating season.” 

He noted that the World Bank had estimated the damage to the energy infrastructure at $11 billion, but added that this figure is even higher as it does not take into account attacks that occurred after the assessment was completed.

In late May, Galushchenko announced an increase in energy tariffs. He explained at the time that Kiev was unable to maintain the discount rates, citing Russian attacks on the energy infrastructure and the fact that Ukraine no longer controls the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, the largest facility of its kind in Europe, as well as the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam, which was destroyed last month.

Russia significantly stepped up missile strikes on Ukraine’s energy facilities after a deadly blast on the Crimean Bridge last October, which Moscow says was orchestrated by Kiev’s intelligence service. While Ukraine has denied responsibility, officials in Kiev have hinted at their role in the blast on numerous occasions.

USA Today/RT