German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier arrived today, Tuesday, in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, in a surprise visit, the first of its kind since the start of the Russian war on the country on February 24.

This comes as 30 Democratic lawmakers in the US Congress sent a letter to President Joe Biden calling on him to make active diplomatic efforts to support a settlement and a ceasefire in Ukraine, and to engage in "direct talks" with Russia.

The lawmakers said that the US administration should redouble efforts to search for a realistic framework to achieve a ceasefire, noting that this framework is supposed to include incentives to end hostilities, including some form of sanctions relief, and give the international community security guarantees for Ukraine that guarantee its freedom and independence and are acceptable to all parties. , especially the Ukrainians.

Russia has repeated its warnings that Kyiv is preparing to use a "dirty bomb" in Ukraine, noting that it will bring this issue, which the West rejects as mere allegations, to the UN Security Council on Tuesday.


nuclear disaster

The Russian Foreign Ministry accused Kyiv and its Western allies of negotiating to supply Ukraine with components for a dirty bomb, warning against taking what it said would lead the world to a nuclear disaster.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba denied the Russian accusations, saying that he agreed with his American counterpart that what he described as the Russian "disinformation campaign" about the dirty bomb might be a pretext for a process that Moscow is preparing for.

While the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) called on Russia not to use the allegations as an excuse to escalate its war on Ukraine, White House spokeswoman Karen Jean-Pierre said the United States rejects Russia's baseless claims that Ukraine is preparing to use a dirty bomb on its soil.

She added that Washington welcomes the approval of the International Atomic Energy Agency to send experts to Ukrainian facilities.

On the other hand, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Western countries' denials of Kyiv's planning to manufacture a "dirty bomb" were baseless, noting that Moscow's accusation of the possibility of such a step was "not serious talk," as he put it.

Reuters quoted a US military official as saying that Washington saw no indications that Russia had taken a decision to use chemical or biological weapons.

economic aid

On the other hand, the World Bank said on Monday that it provided an additional $500 million to help Ukraine meet urgent spending needs caused by the ongoing war on its soil.

This came on the eve of a conference in Berlin today, in which world leaders, development experts and executives will discuss how to rebuild Ukraine after the Russian war, which is now in its ninth month.


Ukrainian accusations

In the grain file, Ukraine accused Russia on Monday of deliberately delaying more than 165 grain cargo ships by extending the checks carried out in implementation of an agreement on these vital supplies to several countries in Africa and Asia.

In a statement, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry accused Moscow of "undermining global food security", calling on the international community to put pressure on it.

Russia and Ukraine, under the auspices of the United Nations and Turkey, agreed in July to resume the export of Ukrainian grain, which has been stuck since the start of the war, but Moscow later criticized the agreement, stressing that Western sanctions imposed on it were preventing its exports from being shipped.

On the ground, Moscow said that it repelled Ukrainian attack attempts in Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson and Krasnyi Lyman, inflicted losses on the attacking forces, and targeted 4 positions of the Ukrainian forces command.

Forces loyal to it in Kherson also announced the formation of what it described as regional defense forces in the province.

For its part, the Ukrainian forces said that they launched a counter-attack in Luhansk, while fighting continues on several axes in Donetsk Province.