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[1/2]Ukrainian trucks are parked near the Poland-Ukraine border, near the village of Korczowa, Poland November 19, 2023. REUTERS/Yan Dobronosov/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights

KYIV, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Ukraine's top truckers union said on Friday its hopes of a rapid end to Polish trucker protests at the border were fading, as Kyiv prepared to evacuate its hauliers stranded in Poland.

Two Ukrainian drivers have died and thousands of trucks have been stuck for days in the winter cold as Polish truckers have blocked the roads to four crossings on the border, a key route for Ukrainian trade during Russia's full-scale invasion.

"Frankly speaking, the more we talk to them the less hope we have," Leonid Kostiuchenko, president of the Ukrainian Association of International Carriers, said in an interview on national television.

"I spoke to the leader of the protesters and his attitude is that we will block for such a long time that you will... celebrate New Year in a queue. I don't understand this humour."

The Polish truckers say they are losing out to Ukrainian companies who offer a cheaper rate and are now transporting goods within the European Union, and not just back and forth to Ukraine.

They launched their blockade on Nov. 6, protesting that Ukrainian truckers are exempt from requiring permits to cross the Polish border, a policy change put in place during the war.

The Polish protests coincide with concerns in Ukraine that the European Union may not agree next month to launch formal accession talks for it to join the 27-member bloc, a key objective for Kyiv.

If the protests drag on for weeks longer, the disruption to trade could affect Ukraine's fragile, wartime economy.

The price of motor vehicle gas (LPG), which is widely used to fuel cars, has already surged 30% due to the protests, one fuel analyst said this week.

Some 3,000 Ukrainian haulers are backed up at the border on the Polish side waiting to cross at four checkpoints, Kostiuchenko said.

Deputy Infrastructure Minister Serhiy Derkach said late on Thursday that Ukrainian truckers were suffering in bitter, sub-zero temperatures and that there were no food supplies, basic sanitary conditions or ambulances at the scene.

"For our part, we have started collecting data for the evacuation of our drivers. We have already run out of time to agree on compromises," Derkach wrote on Facebook.

However he added that "local authorities" in Poland had authorised the protests to continue.

"Therefore, we will evacuate everyone who expresses such a desire, and we are distributing evacuation forms to drivers and carriers," he said.

The truckers union says two Ukrainian truckers have died in their vehicles since the beginning of the blockade. The exact cause of their deaths is unknown, though Polish media have cited police as saying one of them was not connected to the protests.

Writing by Tom Balmforth; Editing by Gareth Jones

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Ukraine ready to evacuate stranded truckers in Poland - Reuters

Newly appointed Head of the Ukraine's State Security Service Vasyl Maliuk looks on during a session of Ukrainian parliament, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine February 7, 2023. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights

Nov 24 (Reuters) - A Ukrainian sea drone attack on Russia's Crimean bridge in July had "overturned" naval operations and forced Moscow to resort to ferries to move weaponry, the head of Ukraine's main intelligence agency said in a video broadcast on Friday.

Vasyl Maliuk, head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), said the second of two major attacks in August had seriously disrupted operations on the 19-km (12-mile) bridge, Europe's longest, and dented the notion of Russian invincibility.

"We have practically overturned the philosophy of naval operations," Maliuk said in the first of a series of televised documentaries entitled "SBU, the Special Operations of Victory."

"We have destroyed the myth of Russian invincibility. The country is a fake. The bridge is doomed. Plenty of surprises lie ahead and not just the Crimean bridge."

Maliuk outlined how the attack, endorsed by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, involved five "Sea Baby" seaborne drones -- remotely controlled from Kyiv, 1000 km (600 miles) to the north.

Video clips showed a fiery explosion on the bridge and technicians cheering the outcome in a control room.

The documentary said reports submitted by agents showed that six of eight supporting structures were destroyed and two damaged and Russian forces switched to ferries to supply their troops with weapons.

Russia said the July attack killed two people on the bridge linking the Crimean peninsula with the Russian mainland by road and rail. Traffic has since been operating on the bridge, though Russian officials say repair work is still proceeding.

The bridge was completed amid great fanfare in 2018, four years after Moscow annexed the peninsula, proclaiming it Russian territory forever.

The attack on the bridge is one of a number of Ukrainian offensive actions in the Black Sea, including a missile assault on the Black Sea Fleet headquarters in Sevastopol in September.

Zelenskiy said this month that Ukraine has seized the initiative from Russia in the Black Sea and, thanks to the use of naval drones, forced Russia's naval fleet and warships to pull back.

Reporting by Ron Popeski and Oleksandr Kozhukhar; Editing by Josie Kao

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Ukrainian sabotage of Crimea bridge 'overturns' naval operations -intelligence head - Reuters

A Ukrainian politician said Russia proposed ending the war if Ukraine abandoned its NATO ambitions.

Russia made the proposal during peace talks soon after the full-scale invasion began.

"There is no, and there was no, trust in the Russians that they would do it," the politician said.

Russia offered to stop its invasion of Ukraine on the condition that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's government abandon its ambition to join NATO, the Kyiv Post reported.

David Arakhamia, the leader of the Servant of the People party and the head of the Ukrainian delegation in the talks, said that Russia had proposed a resolution to the conflict in spring 2022.

The peace talks took place during the early stages of the full-scale war on the border of Ukraine and Belarus and in Turkey.

The Russian delegation reportedly proposed ending the war if Ukraine dropped its NATO aspirations and took a neutral position.

Arakhamia said that a shift toward neutrality would require a constitutional change, considering Ukraine's current constitutional commitment to NATO membership.

Arakhamia told Natalia Moseychuk, a Ukrainian journalist, that Russia saw Ukraine's neutrality as a key condition for a potential peace agreement. "They really hoped almost to the last that they would put the squeeze on us to sign such an agreement so that we would take neutrality. It was the biggest thing for them," he said.

Arakhamia said there was a lack of trust in Russia's sincerity. "There is no, and there was no, trust in the Russians that they would do it. That could only be done if there were security guarantees," he explained.

Signing an agreement without such assurances, Arakhamia argued, would leave Ukraine vulnerable to a potential second incursion because it would have given Russia an opportunity to regroup and prepare for another round of military aggression.

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's unexpected visit to Kyiv on April 9, 2022, had an impact on the potential cease-fire. Johnson advised against signing any agreement with Russia and encouraged Ukraine to continue the fight. Arakhamia recalled Johnson's stance, saying Ukraine "shouldn't sign anything with them at all and let's just fight."

While both sides expressed readiness for a meeting between Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin, discussions abruptly halted when Russian troops retreated from Kyiv. The withdrawal exposed the extent of apparent war crimes committed, including the Bucha massacre.

Three days after Johnson's departure from Kyiv, Putin publicly declared that talks with Ukraine had "turned into a dead end."

NATO expansion has been underway since the beginning of the war, with the formerly neutral Finland joining in April.

Business Insider reported in January that Putin's decision to invade Ukraine was a miscalculation because the war backfired by uniting NATO in support of Ukraine.

While the bloc has been a crucial ally to Ukraine, there is a reluctance to initiate Ukrainian membership while the country is at war. The US opposes extending NATO membership to Ukraine in the immediate future to avoid escalating the West's tensions with Russia.

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Russia offered to end its invasion of Ukraine if it dumped plans to join NATO, but Kyiv feared a double cross, says negotiator - Yahoo News

At the launch of the activities of the eighth session of the Libya Agricultural Exhibition on 25 November held in Tamanhint, southern Libya, it was revealed to Libya Herald that post the global food price crises sparked by the Ukraine-Russia war, pivot irrigation agriculture in southern Libya has made a return.

The exhibition coincided with the celebration of International Palm Day and was held under the supervision of the General Authority for Exhibitions and several ministers from the eastern based Libyan government (unrecognised by most of the international community). Several companies specialized in importing agricultural equipment and machinery, pesticides, seeds, and companies producing dates, olive oil, and honey participated.

Opportunity to network and update In an exclusive interview with Libya Herald, Abdul Khaleq Al-Zawi, the General Manager of Dawaer Al-Khair Company for Importing Agricultural Equipment and Machinery, one of the companies participating in the exhibition, said that the exhibition provides great opportunities for the owners of agricultural companies, whether specialized in the field of agricultural machinery and equipment, including centre pivot irrigation systems, or agricultural investment companies.

They, he continued, can meet with the owners of projects and agricultural companies who wish to learn about the latest modern agricultural technologies, as well as to establish partnerships with agricultural investors to invest in their farms, especially in pivot irrigation farming spread in the cities of the south.

Centre pivot irrigation systems Al-Zawi pointed out that his company specializes in importing and installing centre pivot irrigation systems in the southern regions and has agencies from companies specialized in this field from the United States of America, Turkey and Germany. His company worked on installing pivot irrigation system in several agricultural areas in the southern Libyan region, especially in Kufra, Al-Sarir and South the city of Sabha, the Ghadwa area, and near the city of Ubari. Additionally, his company supplied advanced irrigation techniques that are environmentally friendly and conserve and rationalise water consumption.

Effect of decrease in global food supply and Ukraine war Al-Zawi noted the increasing demand for the installation of centre-pivot irrigation systems in agricultural areas throughout the cities of southern Libya, especially in the field of cultivation of durum wheat, barley, corn, and oats, due to the high demand for these types of grains inside Libya due to the decrease in the global supply of them as the supply was affected by the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Electricity stability has returned pivot agriculture These products are used, he explained, in the food and animal feed industries, and with the stability of electricity over the past two seasons, agricultural irrigation pivot systems have returned to work from scratch. He said agricultural production of grains of various kinds has increased after the decline before 2021 for nine consecutive years, during which agricultural projects were neglected and the rush of production in them stopped.

Strengthen the economy It is worth noting that the eighth Libya Agricultural Exhibition, held in Tamanhint, aims to strengthen the national economy and shed light on agricultural products in the southern region. The exhibition included workshops and scientific lectures on developments in the agricultural field around the world.

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Dialogue session held on the repercussions of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis on food and energy supplies in Libya (libyaherald.com)

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8th Libya Agricultural Exhibition: return of pivot irrigation systems ... - Libya Herald

The African Development Bank has signed three technical assistance grant agreements with the government of Libya, reaffirming its commitment to the North African country. The agreements were signed in Tripoli, the Libyan Capital, on 21 November 2023, the first day of a consultation mission by an African Development Bank delegation led by Mrs Malinne Blomberg, deputy director general for the North Africa region and country manager for Libya.

The grants include $1m in emergency support which will be channelled through the United Nations Childrens Fund in collaboration with the Libyan government and used to procure much needed wash and hygiene kits and emergency materials for temporary learning spaces and rehabilitated classrooms. The supplies, which were swiftly arranged by the bank, became necessary following the Derna floods which devastated the eastern part of the country. The three parties to the agreement will make the funds speedily available for the worst-affected people, especially women and children.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Mrs Blomberg expressed sympathy on behalf of the bank for the people of Libya in their recovery efforts following the floods.

Dr Khalid El Mabrouk, Libyas minister of finance, thanked the Bank for its prompt response. We appreciate the support of the Bank, namely the timeliness and efficiency demonstrated to approve the grants, he said. The partnership with the Bank has always been strong and instrumental in advancing the development agenda of the Libyan authorities, and we value the assistance of the Bank in preparing and delivering on projects of strategic importance to Libya.

Michele Servadei, the UNICEF Representative for Libya, said the funds would be a crucial part of the emergency response to the floods. Thanks to this support UNICEF will focus on safe water provision, hygiene promotion and water quality monitoring, as well as supplies for school reopenings and for the delivery of psychosocial services. I believe this is an important step of a very fruitful partnership between our two organisations, he said.

The two other technical assistance agreements draw on the Banks Middle-Income Technical Assistance Fund (MIC TAF). The first will support the Government in developing the first Food Security and Nutrition Strategy for Libya and strengthen the resilience of the food supply chain to external shocks such as climate change. The second is the result of engagements between the bank and Libyas Ministry of Finance to advance the governments public finance management reform agenda. It will enable the implementation of the Integrated Financial Management and Information System (SI-IFMIS).

Mrs Blomberg reiterated the Banks commitment to Libya. She said, Improving the overall well-being and quality of life for the people of Libya through a strategic and sustainable approach to food is at the forefront of the Banks priorities; equally crucial is strengthening the public finance management capacity of the Government of Libya, through the digitalization of the national finances processes for further efficiency and transparency.

The delegation, which included Mrs Yasmine Eita, country programme officer; Mrs Kaouther Abderrahim, country economist for Libya; and Mr Ibrahim Abdel-Ati, blended finance officer, visited the country from 21 to 24 November 2023. During the mission, it held discussions with the Libyan government on the Banks proposed initiatives and projects for 2024.

Contact: Chawki Chahed, Communication and External Relations Department, media@afdb.org

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The African Development Bank, Libya strengthen cooperation, sign ... - ReliefWeb