HiveToday: Kiev Bombardment, Brexit, Biden's aid package announcement to Ukraine and Montenegro's EU integration

We're now more than two months into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and it seems that Russian hostilities aren't likely to end anytime soon. That's because Russian forces continue to bombard Ukrainian cities, with it being reported yesterday that their attack on Kyiv took place while UN secretary-general António Guterres was in the city. This attack reportedly took place only an hour after President Zelenskiy and Guterres held a press conference together. In total, around a dozen people died in these attacks on the capital, some of them trapped in the rubble of buildings.

While visiting Ukraine, Guterres surveyed the damage done to villages surrounding the capital, as well as condemned the attacks on cities such as Butcher. On the day of Guterres's visit, Russian forces also bombarded several other cities in Ukraine, not just Kyiv. So it seems that there's no sign of things coming to an end just yet. Let's cross the world but stay on the same topic because President Biden has reaffirmed our support for Ukraine today by pegging a billion dollars to support Kyiv's war effort.

This money would be used to finance military, humanitarian, and economic assistance, although the president did want to make it clear that the money should not be seen as the US attacking Russia. This is likely because, in recent days, Putin has tried to instil fear in the west about the possible repercussions of an attack on Russia during the Ukrainian invasion. Some take this to be a reference to Russian nuclear weapons. It's not just all about the military, though, because the deal that Biden proposed provides $20 billion in military aid, 8.5 million in economic aid, and 3 million in humanitarian aid.

It's just been announced that the leader of the British Virgin Islands has been arrested in a sting operation conducted by US authorities for alleged drug smuggling and money laundering. At least according to the charges, Andrew Farhi, who is the premier of the British overseas territory in the Caribbean, agreed to a 700.000 payment to allow cocaine to be trafficked through a British Virgin Islands port on the way to the U.S. Unfortunately for Mr Fahey, the member of Mexico's lower drug cartel that he made the deal with was an informant. So he, along with two others, was arrested at Miami airport by drug enforcement officers. Governor John Rankin, who is the queen's representative in the territory, first revealed the news that Mr Farhi had been arrested and said, "I realize this will be shocking news for people in the territory and I would like to call for calm at this time."

Coming back to Europe, Montenegro's parliament has appointed a new government focused on joining the EU, nearly three months after the previous government was toppled in a no-confidence vote. The new minority government brings together pro-European and pro-Serb parties from the centre-left and the centre-right, and the country will now be led by their 36-year-old former deputy prime minister, who also leads the socially liberal green party. The new prime minister listed five priority areas for his government: fighting corruption, sustainable investment, EU integration, sustainable development, and environmental protection. He'll likely be hoping that these policies allow him to get off to a good start because the previous government fell in a no-confidence vote and left several issues on the table for the country. The slowdown in EU integration, the pandemic response, and the influence of Serbia and the Serbian Orthodox church all come into play. And much more. Not everyone's happy, though, with two opposing blocs that dominated the previous government boycotting the vote on appointing the new one.

Finally, it's been announced today that Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Brexit opportunities minister, has decided to, for the fourth time, delay full post-Brexit border checks with the EU, claiming that enacting them now would cost one billion pounds and would further exacerbate the cost of living crisis. This decision has frustrated some business owners, though they've been preparing for this deadline as they did with all the others, something that now looks like wasted time, effort, and money. Some businesses have even said that they'll be seeking compensation from the government, and it seems like they have some time to submit those complaints because the deadline for post-Brexit border checks has now been moved back to the end of 2023. Some, such as the British Veterinary Association, are frustrated with this decision, though. They've argued that due to the effectively open border, dangerous animals and plants could be coming across the border, which is certainly dangerous for the UK and appears not to deliver on the core promises of Brexit that we first heard about all those years ago.