Heading towards World War III?

Much of the invasion's analysis has focused on the relatively small size of the Ukrainian military, compared to Russia's.

And, while still dwarfed by Russian forces, more than 66,000 Ukrainian men have returned from abroad to fight for the country, Ukraine's defence minister Oleskii Reznikov says.

One of those who decided to return is Yuriy Vernydub, a 56-year-old football coach who led Moldovan side Sheriff Tiraspol to a shock victory against Real Madrid in last year's Champion's League.

www.bbc.com/news/live/world-europe-60532634

The evacuation of civilians from Mariupol should now be getting underway, according to the timeline given by the city council.

Buses have been organised to move people to safety from three locations in the city starting at 11:00 local time (09:00GMT).

Residents have also been told that they can use their own transport to safely travel along a specific route north-west to the city of Zaporizhzhia during the ceasefire, which runs from 09:00-16:00 local time (07:00-14:00 GMT).

Mariupol has been blockaded by Russian forces for several days. The ceasefire is also in place around the small city of Volnovakha.

www.bbc.com/news/live/world-europe-60532634

Russian forces continued to shell the Ukrainian city of Mariupol on Saturday, despite agreeing to a ceasefire just hours earlier - throwing an attempted mass evacuation of civilians into chaos.

"I'm right now in Mariupol, I'm on the street, I can hear shelling every three to five minutes," said Alexander, a 44-year-old engineer and resident of the city.

The green corridor set up to get people out was not working, he said.

"I can see cars of people who tried to flee and they are coming back. It is chaos."

Three hours after the ceasefire was supposed to begin, at 09:00 (07:00 GMT), Mariupol authorities announced they had postponed a planned mass evacuation because of the continued bombardment.

"We ask the people in Mariupol to head for the shelter, there will be more information on the evacuation asap," a statement said.

"Due to the fact that the Russian side is not sticking to the ceasefire and continues to shoot Mariupol itself and the outskirts, the evacuation has been postponed."

www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60629851

The Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances comprises three identical political agreements signed at the OSCE conference in Budapest, Hungary on 5 December 1994 to provide security assurances by its signatories relating to the accession of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). The memorandum was originally signed by three nuclear powers: the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States. China and France gave somewhat weaker individual assurances in separate documents.

The memorandum included security assurances against threats or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. As a result of other agreements and the memorandum, between 1993 and 1996, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine gave up their nuclear weapons.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budapest_Memorandum_on_Security_Assurances

Ret. Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg warns of civilian casualties and scolds the Biden administration for leading from behind on ‘Cross Country.’

Russian President Vladimir Putin has once again set conditions for endling Moscow's invasion in Ukraine. Kremlin has announced that Russia will only halt its military operation if Ukraine stops fighting and Moscow's demands are met.

Russian advances have tried to close the gap on the Eastern Ukrainian border near Luhansk and Kharkiv but taking those cities has proved more challenging than they expected.

Col Macgregor states false hope for Ukrainian victory is only forestalling negotiation and getting more people killed. The Colonel states the bravest thing President Zelenskyy could do is start serious negotiations.

Russian forces continue to achieve their objective of destroying Ukrainian forces in East of the Dnieper River.

The war in Ukraine will deliver a shock to the global supply and cost of food, the boss of one of the world's biggest fertiliser companies has said.

Yara International, which operates in more than 60 countries, buys considerable amounts of essential raw materials from Russia.

Fertiliser prices were already high due to soaring wholesale gas prices.

Yara's boss, Svein Tore Holsether, has warned the situation could get even tougher.

"Things are changing by the hour," he told the BBC.

"We were already in a difficult situation before the war... and now it's additional disruption to the supply chains and we're getting close to the most important part of this season for the Northern hemisphere, where a lot of fertiliser needs to move on and that will quite likely be impacted."

Russia and Ukraine are some of the biggest producers in agriculture and food globally.

Russia also produces enormous amounts of nutrients, like potash and phosphate - key ingredients in fertilisers, which enable plants and crops to grow.

"Half the world's population gets food as a result of fertilisers... and if that's removed from the field for some crops, [the yield] will drop by 50%," Mr Holsether said.

"For me, it's not whether we are moving into a global food crisis - it's how large the crisis will be."

www.bbc.com/news/business-60623941

The coronavirus pandemic has brought hunger to millions of people around the world. National lockdowns and social distancing measures are drying up work and incomes, and are likely to disrupt agricultural production and supply routes — leaving millions to worry how they will get enough to eat.

www.nytimes.com/2020/04/22/world/africa/coronavirus-hunger-crisis.html

The head of the World Food Programme, David Beasley, has warned the conflict in Ukraine could send global food prices soaring, with a catastrophic impact on the world's poorest.

Ukraine and Russia are both major exporters of basic foodstuffs, and the war has already hit crop production, driving up prices

Mr Beasley said it was putting more people at risk of starvation worldwide.

www.bbc.com/news/business-60653856