Ukraine War

• Russia announced a new ceasefire to allow new evacuation corridors from Kyiv and Kharkiv, although its record on adhering to ceasefires has been shaky (the last two attempts failed quickly).
• Moreover, Russia’s proposal would have allowed Ukrainian civilians to evacuate only to Belarus or Russia, rather than to other parts of Ukraine or EU countries. Ukraine rejected the proposal.

International Opposition

• Ukraine will ask the UN’s International Court of Justice for an emergency ruling requiring Russia to withdraw. It would be a toothless ruling since the UN has no means of enforcing it.
• The U.S. and EU are considering banning imports of Russian oil products, and oil prices briefly broke $130 per barrel on the news.

Iran

• Russia reportedly scuttled an Iranian nuclear deal that was close to being signed by demanding written guarantees that sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine won’t block its trade with Iran under a new deal.
• Analysts think the goal of the new demands is to carve out loopholes in the tight sanctions being imposed on Russia. Both the U.S. and Iran criticized the last-minute meddling.

Venezuela

• Senior U.S. officials flew to Caracas for rare talks with Venezuela. They’re reportedly offering Venezuela some sanctions relief in an effort to further isolate Russia—and perhaps to secure Venezuelan oil as a replacement for Russian supplies.
• Both sides say the conversations didn’t make much progress: it seems Venezuela wants to remain loyally allied with Russia.

Guyana

• Guyana plans to submit a written case for its border dispute with Venezuela to the International Court of Justice tomorrow, but it’s likely to take years for the court to decide the case.

Sahel

• An attack on a military base in Mondoro, Mali killed at least 27 soldiers and another seven are missing.
• Mali’s military responded swiftly, and said it killed seventy “terrorists” (Islamic State and Al Qaeda are both active in Mali but neither claimed the Mondoro attack yet and Malian officials didn’t specify which group they blamed for it).