Russia-Ukraine war updates for April 21, 2023.

Russia is monitoring reports of a possible ban of Russia-bound exports from Western countries, warning that current and further sanctions will injure the world economy.

“We’re rigorously monitoring this, we’re aware that each the U.S. and the EU are actively considering latest sanctions,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in comments reported by Reuters, adding that such measures will “after all, also hit the worldwide economy” and “may result in a rise within the trend towards a worldwide economic crisis.”

Earlier, Japanese news agency Kyodo reported that the Group of Seven countries were considering a ban on nearly all exports to Russia, citing a Japanese government source. CNBC has not been in a position to independently confirm the report.

— Ruxandra Iordache

The Canadian government on Friday announced a 39 million Canadian dollar ($28.9 million) package for Ukraine, which can include 40 sniper rifles, radio sets and a donation to a NATO fund in support of Kyiv.

The lion’s share of the contribution — CA$34.6 million — will likely be directed toward the Ukraine Comprehensive Assistance Package Trust Fund.

“We are going to proceed to face shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine within the short and the long run,” Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand pledged on Friday, revealing the extra assistance measures.

“All eight Leopard 2 essential battle tanks committed by Canada to Ukraine have been delivered, and we have deployed Leopard Gunnery Skills Trainers to coach Ukrainian crews,” she added.

Anand has arrived on the Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where Ukraine’s Western allies will attend a gathering to debate coordinated motion in Ukraine.

NATO members have agreed that Ukraine will join the military alliance, but the present focus is on Kyiv prevailing within the war against Russia and stopping latest attacks, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday, in comments reported by Reuters.

Stoltenberg paid an unexpected visit to Kyiv — his first since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine — on April 20.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly pushed for fast-tracked NATO membership, along with weapons support from the military allies. Ukraine’s Western allies will on Friday convene on the Ramstein Air Base in Germany to coordinate further assistance to Kyiv.

— Ruxandra Iordache

A Russian warplane unintentionally released a weapon on the Russian city of Belgorod, north of the border of Ukraine, damaging buildings and resulting in explosions, the Russian ministry of defense told state news agency Tass.

Russia’s defense ministry didn’t specify what sort of weapon had been unleashed, but identified the plane as a Sukhoi Su-34 fighter — a medium-range supersonic bomber.

Belgorod regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov late on Thursday said on Telegram that three people were injured following local explosions, with no dead reported. He announced a state of emergency at Belgorod, where he said a crater with a radius of 20 meters has formed across a essential street.

— Ruxandra Iordache

Members of a Russian political party have recommend a proposal to extend the income tax rate of Russia’s wealthier residents with a private income of greater than 12 million rubles ( $147,000 ) by 2% and route this extra funding to support Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine, Russia state news agency Tass reported.

The cash emerging from additional taxes will likely be directed to support each mobilized soldiers and their families, the measure proposes.

Russian hydrocarbon-reliant revenues have been increasingly stifled by Western sanctions on its seaborne exports and crude oil and oil products, which have been in place since December and February, respectively.

Drawing from data from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the European Council says that Russia’s GDP shed 2.1% in 2022.

— Ruxandra Iordache

U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with President Ursula von der Leyen of the European Commission on additional ways allies can support Ukraine.

Biden and von der Leyen reiterated their commitment to making sure Ukraine has the economic and security assistance it needs while also continuing to impose costs on the Kremlin.

“The leaders also discussed ongoing joint efforts to speed up the transition to wash energy economies” in an effort to mitigate any dependence on Russian fuel, based on a readout provided by the White House.

The 2 also discussed regional security issues related to China and Taiwan.

— Amanda Macias

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is en path to Germany to host the Ukraine Defense Contact Group.

Earlier within the week, Austin met with counterparts in Sweden to debate Ukrainian security assistance and Stockholm’s bid to affix the NATO military alliance.

The Ukraine Defense Contact Group is a coalition of nearly 50 countries supporting Ukraine’s military needs. The upcoming meeting at Ramstein Air Base will likely be the eleventh time the group has met because it was formed last April.

— Amanda Macias

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday that it was time for NATO to ask Ukraine to affix the Western military alliance, repeating a much-heard plea from Kyiv for fast-track membership.

Speaking at a joint news conference in Kyiv with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who made an unannounced visit to Kyiv Thursday, Zelenskyy said he had been invited to the subsequent NATO summit in July, but that Kyiv wanted more.

“I’m grateful for the invitation to go to the summit, but it is usually vital for Ukraine to receive the corresponding invitation,” he told reporters in comments reported by Reuters.

“There isn’t a single objective barrier to the political decision to ask Ukraine into the alliance and now, when most individuals in NATO countries and nearly all of Ukrainians support NATO accession, is the time for the corresponding decisions.”

Stoltenberg said that Ukraine’s NATO membership bid — which it launched last September — and security guarantees can be high on the agenda on the alliance’s July summit, adding that Ukraine’s rightful place was in NATO.

Despite Stoltenberg’s words of support and encouragement, analysts imagine Ukraine’s NATO membership bid faces significant hurdles and will take years to be approved, whether it is in any respect.

Apart from the energetic war that is ongoing in Ukraine, NATO members similar to Hungary and Turkey would likely be very reluctant to further antagonize Russia by admitting Ukraine into the alliance. One among Moscow’s key bugbears ahead of the war was a possible further expansion of NATO eastwards to incorporate Ukraine, despite that prospect being, even at the moment, a distant possibility.

— Holly Ellyatt