RIYADH, 26 April 2022, (TON): Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammed bin Salman made a telephone call to British prime minister Boris Johnson.

The crown prince and Johnson discussed “the developments in Ukraine and the exerted efforts toward regional and international issues.”

They also discussed aspects of cooperation between the two countries and ways to develop them.

WASHINGTON, 26 April 2022, (TON): Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said after a secrecy-shrouded visit to Kyiv “Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky is committed to winning his country’s fight against Russia and that the United States will help him achieve that goal.”

Austin told reporters in Poland “he has the mindset that they want to win, and we have the mindset that we want to help them win.”

Austin said “the nature of the fight in Ukraine had changed now that Russia has pulled away from the wooded northern regions to focus on the eastern industrial heartland of the Donbas. Because the nature of the fight has evolved, so have Ukraine’s military needs, and Zelensky is now focused on more tanks, artillery and other munitions.”

Austin said “the first step in winning is believing that you can win.”

“We believe that they can win if they have the right equipment, the right support, and we’re going to do everything we can to ensure that gets to them.”

WASHINGTON, 26 April 2022, (TON): Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said after a secrecy-shrouded visit to Kyiv “Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky is committed to winning his country’s fight against Russia and that the United States will help him achieve that goal.”

Austin told reporters in Poland “he has the mindset that they want to win, and we have the mindset that we want to help them win.”

Austin said “the nature of the fight in Ukraine had changed now that Russia has pulled away from the wooded northern regions to focus on the eastern industrial heartland of the Donbas. Because the nature of the fight has evolved, so have Ukraine’s military needs, and Zelensky is now focused on more tanks, artillery and other munitions.”

Austin said “the first step in winning is believing that you can win.”

“We believe that they can win if they have the right equipment, the right support, and we’re going to do everything we can to ensure that gets to them.”

RIYADH, 26 April 2022, (TON): The Kingdom has signed a deal with the UN to offer consultation services in the fields of survey and geospatial information, as well as boosting national capacity.

The General Authority for Survey and Geospatial Information and the United Nations Development Program agreed the third phase of a project that will allow the GASGI to better market its products and services, and increase the level of public awareness of its operations.

The agreement covers the areas of geodesy, geospatial information, marine surveys, map production, planning and development.

Dr. Adam Bouloukos, the UNDP’s resident representative for Saudi Arabia, said the partnership aimed at providing consultation services concerned with developing national capacity to conduct survey and geospatial works effectively and efficiently.

LONDON, 26 April 2022, (TON): The UK will transfer Stormer self-propelled anti-aircraft guns equipped with Starstreak missiles to Ukraine. This was officially announced, speaking in the House of Commons, the head of the Ministry of Defense of the kingdom, Ben Wallace.

The minister said “as Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced, £100 million [$130 million] worth of first-class military equipment will be delivered, including 120 armored vehicles, anti-ship missiles and high-tech loitering munitions for precision strikes.”

He said “but as we see from what Ukraine is asking us to do, more needs to be done.”

The head of the defense department said “so now I can announce before the Chamber that we will donate to Ukraine a small number of military vehicles with launchers for these anti-aircraft missiles. Machines Stormer will increase the potential of Ukrainian troops in the fight against air targets at short distances both in the daytime and at night.”

BRUSSELS, 26 April 2022, (TON): The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, called on India and the countries of the Indo-Pacific region to impose sanctions against Russia, which Brussels intends to support for a long time.

She said during the international Raisina Dialogue conference “we have designed sanctions against Russia in such a way as to maintain them for a long time.”

“And we call on India and all countries of the Indo-Pacific region and the international community to support these measures in the name of a lasting peace.”

The head of the EC noted that Brussels considers the Russian special operation in Ukraine a direct threat to its security, stressing that the EU will strive with all its might for this operation to end in a strategic defeat of the Russian Federation.

WASHINGTON, 26 April 2022, (TON): The Pentagon believes that the Armed Forces of Russia are not taking any provocative actions against the continental United States at this stage.

This was confirmed by the head of the US Northern Command, General Glen Vanhurk.

The American military leader said “I have not witnessed anything in relation to the continental United States that would be provocative.”

VanHurke said “the Russian Armed Forces bomber activity near US territory is within the norm. I haven’t seen anything that would make me feel worried.”

At the same time, the general specified what he mea-nt, among other things, the activities of the Russian Navy.

The Northern Command entrusted to him is responsible for the defense of the continental United States.

LONDON, 26 April 2022, (TON): Arab nations criticized Israel during a heated meeting of the UN Security Council that focused on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Representatives of several Arab states spoke out against the actions of Israeli forces against Palestinians, especially violence over the weekend in East Jerusalem and at Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Israel criticized the UNSC for ignoring the activities of Palestinian terror groups and the rising threat from Iran.

Tor Wennesland, UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, said “23 Palestinians including three women and four children were killed in clashes with Israeli forces, and 541 had been injured by police and settlers.

Twelve Israelis including two women and three foreign nationals had been killed by Palestinians, and 82 had been injured.

DHAKA, 26 April 2022, (TON): Bangladesh and Norway have expressed interest in broadening economic partnership through trade, investment and maritime sector cooperation.

The two countries also discussed in particular the potentials for investments in offshore renewable energy.

Foreign minister Momen​ has briefed his Norwegian counterpart Annekin Huitfeldt about measures taken in building safety and green production facilities in the RMG sector.

The Norwegian minister showed interest in the ship breaking industry and enquired about Bangladesh’s plans concerning ratifying the Hong Kong Convention.

Momen held the meeting with the visiting Norwegian foreign minister in Dhaka.

The newly appointed Norwegian foreign minister is on a two-day visit to Bangladesh.

KABUL, 26 April 2022, (TON): The Ministry of Defense said “it has repaired some Cheetal helicopters provided by India to the former government in Afghanistan.”

Defense Ministry’s spokesman Enayatullah Khawarazmi said “the repairing of other choppers that have functioning issues is underway.”

He said “we have 60 aircrafts. They were repaired by the engineers and the maintenance team.”

Earlier, the Defense Ministry said that 40 out of 80 helicopters had technical issues that mostly happened during the collapse of the former government.

Col. Mohammad Naeem, an Afghan pilot said “this helicopter was completely broken. Its avionics were broken. We fixed them and they are ready for flight.”