KYIV: A Russian ballistic missile strike overnight on the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa killed four people and damaged a Barbados-flagged cargo ship, Ukrainian authorities said Wednesday.
The attack late Tuesday came as Ukraine endorsed an American proposal for a 30-day ceasefire and agreed to immediate negotiations with Russia.
Ukrainian officials said the attack occurred as the cargo ship was being loaded with a grain consignment intended to be sent to Algeria.
“Unfortunately, four people died – citizens of Syria. The youngest victim was 18, the oldest was 24 years old. Two more people were wounded – a Ukrainian and a Syrian,” Oleksiy Kuleba, vice prime minister for reconstruction wrote on social media.
“Russia is attacking Ukraine’s infrastructure, including ports that are involved in ensuring the world’s food security,” he added.
Separately, the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region said a 47-year-old woman was killed during a Russian missile attack on the central city of Kryvyi Rig, the hometown of President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The Ukrainian air force said that in total Russia had launched three missiles at the war-battered country overnight as well as 133 drones of various types, including the Iranian-designed Shahed-type attack drone.
Its air defense units shot down 98 of the drones, the air force added.
Kyiv: Russian strike on Ukraine’s Odesa port kills four
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Kyiv: Russian strike on Ukraine’s Odesa port kills four
- Attack late Tuesday came as Ukraine endorsed an American proposal for a 30-day ceasefire
India, Arab League target $500bn in trade by 2030
- It was the first such gathering of India–Arab FMs since the forum’s inauguration in 2016
- India and Arab states agree to link their startup ecosystems, cooperate in the space sector
NEW DELHI: India and the Arab League have committed to doubling bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030, as their top diplomats met in New Delhi for the India–Arab Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.
The foreign ministers’ forum is the highest mechanism guiding India’s partnership with the Arab world. It was established in March 2002, with an agreement to institutionalize dialogue between India and the League of Arab States, a regional bloc of 22 Arab countries from the Middle East and North Africa.
The New Delhi meeting on Saturday was the first gathering in a decade, following the inaugural forum in Bahrain in 2016.
India’s Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said in his opening remarks that the forum was taking place amid a transformation in the global order.
“Nowhere is this more apparent than in West Asia or the Middle East, where the landscape itself has undergone a dramatic change in the last year,” he said. “This obviously impacts all of us, and India as a proximate region. To a considerable degree, its implications are relevant for India’s relationship with Arab nations as well.”
Jaishankar and his UAE counterpart co-chaired the talks, which aimed at producing a cooperation agenda for 2026-28.
“It currently covers energy, environment, agriculture, tourism, human resource development, culture and education, amongst others,” Jaishankar said.
“India looks forward to more contemporary dimensions of cooperation being included, such as digital, space, start-ups, innovation, etc.”
According to the “executive program” released by India’s Ministry of External Affairs, the roadmap agreed by India and the League outlined their planned collaboration, which included the target “to double trade between India and LAS to US$500 billion by 2030, from the current trade of US$240 billion.”
Under the roadmap, they also agreed to link their startup ecosystems by facilitating market access, joint projects, and investment opportunities — especially health tech, fintech, agritech, and green technologies — and strengthen cooperation in space with the establishment of an India–Arab Space Cooperation Working Group, of which the first meeting is scheduled for next year.
Over the past few years, there has been a growing momentum in Indo-Arab relations focused on economic, business, trade and investment ties between the regions that have some of the world’s youngest demographics, resulting in a “commonality of circumstances, visions and goals,” according to Muddassir Quamar, associate professor at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University.
“The focus of the summit meeting was on capitalizing on the economic opportunities … including in the field of energy security, sustainability, renewables, food and water security, environmental security, trade, investments, entrepreneurship, start-ups, technological innovations, educational cooperation, cultural cooperation, youth engagement, etc.,” Quamar told Arab News.
“A number of critical decisions have been taken for furthering future cooperation in this regard. In terms of opportunities, there is immense potential.”
