Russia-Ukraine war: ‘Don’t worry,’ EU foreign affairs chief tells Ukrainians as ministers focus on Middle East – as it happened | Ukraine

• Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he had “very productive talks” with Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, who visited Kyiv today. The Ukrainian leader said the two countries would be able to resolve problematic issues.

• Tusk underlined that Warsaw and Kyiv would work in a spirit of friendship to resolve differences.

• Denys Shmyhal, Ukraine’s prime minister, said that he “discussed the free movement of goods across the border” with Tusk and that the sides agreed to resume intergovernmental consultations.

• EU foreign ministers discussed support to Ukraine.

• With ministers focusing much of their attention today on the situation in the Middle East, the bloc’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, insisted that Ukrainians should not worry and that the EU’s support for Kyiv will continue as strong as ever.

• Borrell also said Ukraine “needs more and faster military support now.”

• Latvia’s foreign minister, Krišjānis Kariņš, said that “if we do not help Ukraine stop Russia now, it will be only all the more expensive for us later.”

• Elina Valtonen, Finland’s foreign minister, said there’s a need to fulfil Ukraine’s immediate defence needs but that Europe also needs to ramp up its defence industry and capabilities.

• Zelenskiy announced a proposal aimed at granting ethnic Ukrainians and their descendants Ukrainian citizenship.

• There is movement toward a meeting between Zelenskiy and Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, a senior Ukrainian official said.

• The UK updated its travel advice “to advise against all but essential travel” to the regions of Zakarpattia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ternopil, Chernivtsi in western Ukraine. Previously, there was advice against all travel to the whole of Ukraine.

• The UK has provided satellite photographs of North Korean cargo shipments to Russia to a panel of UN experts.

• The Kremlin has drawn up a bill to confiscate property and valuables from Ukraine war critics convicted of, among other crimes, “discrediting the Russian army” or calling for foreign sanctions.

Critics of Ukraine war could have property seized under new Russian law

Andrew Roth

A bill to confiscate property and valuables from Ukraine war critics convicted of, among other crimes, “discrediting the Russian army” or calling for foreign sanctions, has been drawn up by the Kremlin.

The draft legislation to the Russian criminal code was registered in Russia’s State Duma on Monday, where it has been backed by all of Russia’s main political parties and appears likely to pass into law.

The bill aims to allow the Russian government to seize money and property used or intended to finance illegal activity or that which is believed to threaten Russia’s security, as determined by a court order.

It would also allow law enforcement to seize honorariums received by journalists or researchers convicted of writing “fake information” about the invasion of Ukraine, or to seize other more valuable property including cars or flats as a substitute, lawyers said.

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The UK has updated its travel advice for parts of Ukraine “following a change in the risk assessment on the ground”.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office travel advice has been updated to advise against all but essential travel to the regions, known as oblasts, of Zakarpattia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ternopil, Chernivtsi in western Ukraine. This is a change from the previous advice against all travel to the whole of Ukraine.

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he had “very productive talks” with Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, who is visiting Kyiv today.

“We appreciate Poland’s unwavering support and the new military aid package for Ukraine, as well as a new form of cooperation aimed at larger-scale arms purchases for Ukrainian needs: a Polish loan for Ukraine,” he said, noting that “opportunities for future joint arms production” were also discussed.

At a news conference, the Ukrainian president said the two countries would be able to resolve problematic issues including those related to border protests, Reuters reported.

“We discussed with the [Polish] prime minister that all critical issues that exist can be resolved at the level of governments, and work on this will begin shortly,” he said.

In Kyiv, Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, said that there was nothing more important than supporting Ukraine in its war effort against Russia.

Tusk also underlined that while there were “some conflicts of interest”, the sides would work “in a spirit of friendship to resolve any differences as quickly as possible”, according to his office.

As EU foreign ministers meet in Brussels, the bloc’s high representative for foreign affairs, Josep Borrell, said that “Ukraine needs more and faster military support now”.