RIYADH, 26 February 2022, (TON): Kingdom’s foreign ministry said “Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan received a phone call from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.”

During the call, they reviewed aspects of Saudi-UN cooperation and discussed a number of regional and international developments.

Prince Faisal also received a call from his UK counterpart Liz Truss earlier, where the two sides discussed bilateral relations and the most prominent developments.

WASHINGTON, 26 February 2022, (TON): State Department spokesperson Ned Price said “the US will continue to engage with Russia over efforts to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, even though Moscow's invasion of Ukraine had made it a “pariah on the world stage.”

Price said US officials would now only engage with Russia counterparts on issues of “fundamental to our national security interest.”

Price said “that includes the talks to revive a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, including Russia.”

LONDON, 26 February 2022, (TON): We, the leaders of the JEF nations, condemn in the strongest possible terms Russia’s military attack on Ukraine.

We are appalled by this brutal and unprovoked attack on a free and sovereign European country. It constitutes a serious violation of international law, a grave breach of the United Nations Charter as well as core commitments Russia entered in the Helsinki Final Act, the Charter of Paris and the Budapest Memorandum.

We call on the Russian Federation to stop the bloodshed, to de-escalate immediately and to withdraw its forces to positions outside of the sovereign and internationally recognized borders of Ukraine.

We strongly support the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. We are united in our support for the people of Ukraine and its democratically elected government.

KYIV, 26 February 2022, (TON): Ali Chreim’s phone has been ringing non-stop.

“Good morning, what’s the situation where you’re at? We slept underground and we heard sounds,” a Lebanese student in Ukraine tells him in a voice message, trying to hold back her tears.

“We’re so exhausted. My body is shaking.”

A Lebanese university professor who has lived in Kyiv for 33 years, Chreim said “thousands of his compatriots trapped in Ukraine are trying to leave, as Russian forces continue to bombard the country.”

He said “we have Lebanese families with two or three-month-old babies who recently emigrated because of the economic crisis.”

“We’re trying to send them food.”

Chreim heads the Lebanese Community in Ukraine, a diaspora group in the country. He said there are some 4,500 Lebanese living in Ukraine, of whom about 1,300 are students. Some are barely 20 years old.

PARIS, 26 February 2022, (TON): EU sanctions will affect the highest leaders of Russia.

This is stated in the appeal of French President Emma-nuel Macron to the French parliament, which was announced at a meeting of the National Assembly.

President of the National Assembly Richard Ferrand read out the President’s address “yesterday, the EU Council adopted a series of unprecedented sanctions affecting Russia and Belarus. The sanctions will also apply to Russian figures, including the highest leaders of the Russian Federation.”

The presidential address says “we are in contact with the Ukrainian authorities in order to provide them with the defensive equipment they need.”

“It is necessary to strengthen unity with our European partners to protect our sovereignty and security.”

At the same time, according to the French leader “the European Union shou-ld become more sovereign in energy, technological and military terms.”

MOSCOW, 26 February 2022, (TON): Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan will hold talks in Moscow on February 28.

This was announced on Friday by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova.

The diplomat said “Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will hold tal-ks with the UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, who will pay a working visit to Moscow.”

Maria said that the sides will focus on the priority is-sues of further development of multifaceted Russian-Emirati relations with an emphasis on the implementation of the agreements reached during personal contacts between the leaders of the two countries, as well as the provisions of the strategic declaration between the two states.

ANKARA, 26 February 2022, (TON): Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that NATO did not show due determination in the situation with Ukraine, and the attitude of the West towards it is far from friendly.

The President told journalists on Friday in Istanbul “the West, the EU countries and NATO failed to demonstrate determination towards Ukraine. They all give her advice. The West’s attitude towards Ukraine cannot be considered frien-dship or solidarity.”

The performance was broadcast by the NTV channel .

Erdogan noted that advice cannot influence the situation.

NEW YORK, 26 February 2022, (TON): Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution demanding that Moscow immediately stop its attack on Ukraine and withdraw all troops, a defeat the United States and its supporters knew was inevitable but said “would highlight Russia’s global isolation.”

The vote was 11 in favor, with Russia voting no and China, India and the United Arab Emirates abstaining, which showed significant but not total opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of his country’s smaller and militarily weaker neighbor.

The resolution’s failure paves the way for supporters to call for a quick vote on a similar resolution in the 193-member UN General Assembly, where there are no vetoes. There was no immediate word on a timetable for an assembly vote.

The vote was delayed for two hours the United States and Albania, which co-sponsored the resolution, and their supporters scrambled behind the scenes to get wavering nations to support the resolution. China’s decision to abstain, rather than use its veto alongside usual ally Russia, was seen as a diplomatic achievement.

US Ambassador Linda Thomas Greenfield told her Russian counterpart “you can veto this resolution, but you cannot veto our voices.”

“You cannot veto the truth. You cannot veto our principles. You cannot veto the Ukrainian people.”

Brazil’s Ambassador Ronaldo Costa Filho, whose country’s vote was initially in question but turned into a yes, said his government is “gravely concerned” about Russia’s military action.

He said “a line has been crossed, and this council cannot remain silent.”

KABUL, 26 February 2022, (TON): The Biden administration sought to assure financial institutions and other businesses that U.S. sanctions on the Taliban aren’t intended to interfere with trade that could help Afghanistan emerge from an economic and humanitarian crisis.

Senior administration officials said “a so-called general license issued by the Treasury Department expanded the authorization for commercial and financial transactions in Afghanistan in hopes of helping Afghans but not the Taliban.”

It is intended to restart some commercial activity that shut down after the fall of the the U.S.-backed government to the Taliban in August, the officials told reporters.

It's the latest in a series of actions by the administration aimed at alleviating a worsening humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, where aid groups estimate that nearly 24 million people, more than half the country, face severe hunger and nearly 9 million are on the brink of starvation.

The license authorizes transactions involving Afghanistan or governing institutions in Afghanistan, with the exception of specific Taliban figures under sanctions.

U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power said in a statement “it aims to ensure that U.S. sanctions do not prevent or inhibit the transactions and activities needed to support the basic human needs of the people of Afghanistan.”

NEW DELHI, 26 February 2022, (TON): The Indian government will evacuate all Indian nationals from Ukraine, India's Ambassador said here as he assured Indian students holed up in this country, a day after Russia launched a massive military operation against it.

Indian Ambassador to Ukraine Partha Satpathy also urged the students taking refuge in temporary shelters to be "realistic about the situation and convey to friends and families that everything would just be fine."

With Russia announcing a military operation in Ukraine, thousands of Indian students enrolled in Ukrainian higher education institutions, mostly studying medicine, are in a state of panic and pleading with authorities to ensure their safe return to India.

Mr Satpathy said while speaking to students who were holed up here "the government of India is completely seized with the matter. Every Indian will go back home. Planes are being lined up. Personnel is being lined up, but it's a warzone. We will have to work out the logistics and find the modalities to reach the West.”