Amateur dancer Omowunmi Otunuyi, who is deaf, delighted an audience in the Nigerian city of Ibadan, as she performed with her dance troupe in a show intended to challenge preconceptions about deafness.

"I am so glad we were able to show the audience what we could do, I'm excited because we made it happen," said the 20-year-old in sign language.

Public performances by deaf artists are rare in Nigeria, where there is little provision for people with disabilities to access cultural and artistic activities.

Otunuyi's way into the world of dance came through professional coach Samuel James, who launched the Seams Deaf-Pro Foundation with an ambition to give deaf performers opportunities to excel and to combat prejudice against them.

"When we go to a place to dance [people] say 'how is this possible, how are they able to work with songs, the sounds'... that has been our target and that is what we always push," James said.

Otunuyi and others in the group credit James with helping them express rhythm and flow during rigorous training sessions.

"Some may think it is just a waste of energy, a waste of time," Otunuyi signed. "I'm a born dancer. I believe there is success in this."

James and his students have a clear purpose.

"We are trying to break the biases, the prejudices against deaf people," he said.

Reuters

Many an unflattering adjective has been deployed to describe the vulgarisms of Senate President Godswill Akpabio. None of it matters.

If you thought his predecessor, Ahmad Lawan, was too servile in his dealings with the executive, Akpabio leaves you with no doubt that he would be a lickspittle. In the video his aides made of him attending the plenary session last month, Akpabio’s cap carried an inscription of the Bola Tinubu campaign insignia. For a man who would lead the legislature—a branch of government that presumably serves the democratic function of checking and balancing the excesses of the powerful executive—to show up on his first day at work declaring his fealty to the president, you know he is not ready to even feign autonomy. The only “checks and balances” that will exist is what he can cash to serve his narrow interests.

Take the other instance of him trivialising the ongoing hardship in the country by turning the cry of “Let the poor breathe!” into a joke. His latest thoughtless act before the public glare was him informing his colleagues, amidst all the massive suffering regular Nigerians are being enjoined to patriotically weather, that an undisclosed sum had been sent to their respective bank accounts for them to enjoy their parliamentary recess. When he realised that he had inadvertently exposed their crookedness, he took back his comment with a tactless joke.

While several critics have rightfully pointed out his indecorousness, I am inclined to think that Akpabio’s lack of self-awareness is, in fact, strategic. What if there is a method to this madness? And what if you are not even the target audience of his crassness? When you think about it, Akpabio is too tainted—in every wise—to hold the exalted position he occupies.

Before he became Senate President, people raised genuine concerns that a man with so many corruption allegations hanging around his neck would be so elevated. Yes, corruption allegations are standard for politicians, but the consistency with which they have dogged Akpabio’s career is perversely outstanding. Despite having held one public position in one capacity or the other, he has no distinguished record of achievement that marks him out as a perspicacious leader. Instead, what has trailed every single office he has held are allegations bordering on his cupidity. It is almost impossible to keep up with the lists of mind-boggling financial infractions levelled against him by various agencies and petitioners. If he could become the number three man in the land despite such weighty moral baggage, what motivation does he have to be different?

In 2015, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission summoned him to explain financial mismanagement amounting to N108bn during his tenure as governor of Akwa Ibom State. Out of that sum, he allegedly withdrew N18bn from the state’s coffers for spurious purposes. He was also accused of using fronts to acquire real estate in prime locations in Lagos and the Federal Capital Territory. Shortly after his case came up with the EFCC, Akpabio began his moves to defect to the All Progressives Congress, the ruling party. He finalised his defection in 2018 and officially became an APC member under—mother of all ironies! —the watch of so-called anti-corruption President Muhammadu Buhari who made him Minister of Niger Delta Affairs. The years he spent in that office were more memorable for the attendant corruption allegations than any notable achievement. In 2020, while still a minister, lawmakers investigated allegations of N40bn fraud perpetrated in the Niger Delta Development Commission, an agency under Akpabio’s watch. In 2021, he was accused of trying to bribe the EFCC chairperson Abdulrasheed Bawa with $350,000. Even if you want to give him the benefit of the doubt, you must still wonder why one man leaves a trail of scandals everywhere he goes.

He has not been in office as Senate President for up to 100 days, but SERAP, a social advocacy group, has already filed a lawsuit against him and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, over “the unlawful plan to spend N40bn on 465 exotic and bulletproof cars for members and principal officials, and N70bn as ‘palliatives’ for new members.” At a time the government is asking Nigerians to endure more pains for a vague promise of greater glory that lies ahead, Akpabio and his fellow travelers have no qualms treating themselves to lushness at collective expense.

Until four months ago, the EFCC still asked Akpabio to report at their Abuja headquarters over some outstanding issues. Of course, he did not show up. His lawyer claimed he had a scheduled medical appointment overseas. In a crazy turn of fate that could only happen in a bewildering country like Nigeria, Akpabio is not only the Senate President, but the Bawa who summoned him for questioning is in jail (and will be there for an indeterminable while). In Nigeria, up is always down and down can go in any direction.

For a man like that to have come this far, he must be much more than the fool his critics take him to be. His indiscretions might be off-putting, but they go a long way to reassure those who put him in that office of his pliancy. The day the powers that elevated him detect as much as a whiff of seriousness, a slight shred of resolve, or the emergence of a character that can be (mis-) interpreted as the stirrings of integrity, his case file in the EFCC’s office will miraculously surface. He will be promptly sent to the meat grinder. When a man must survive, he will wear the motley in his brain.

The greatest loser, overall, is Nigeria. It is hard to properly aggregate the extent to the ascent of morally contaminated characters erode confidence in every institution including—or especially—the family. Certain figures in the present administration—from the president whose moral baggage is heavier than what John Bunyan’s Christian hauled around, to the party chair caught on video pocketing dollars, to the various ministerial nominees whose case files are still pending with the EFCC (and other anti-corruption) agencies—entirely undermine the traditional values that our parents and elders taught us. They taught us never to steal because doing so would bring shame to the family name. I am no longer sure any parent in the country still says that with any conviction. Stealing only brings shame if you steal insignificantly. Steal enough, and it will become the basis for which politics propels you to the highest offices. What we call “traditional values” and morals are totally dead in our society.

Akpabio is never going to be different; the truth is that he need not be. He did not become the number three man in the Federal Republic of Gbéwiri by being a rational and moderate human being, so why start now? Who in their right mind changes a method that works? When you compare the lack of self-moderation that makes him make tasteless jokes during the parliamentary sessions to the number of zeroes behind the sums he allegedly stole, you see a pattern of his excessiveness. As Senate President, he will continue to overdo things if it distracts you from noticing that the legislature under him will not achieve anything meaningful but will still be bogged down by scandals.

By already going overboard with his poor composure and projected spendings amidst grueling hardship, you at least know better than to expect any moderation from him. If he disappoints your expectations, you have yourself to blame. You knew how he clowns so why expect anything different?

Go ahead and use up all the harsh adjectives on him, but none of that will ultimately matter. His methods are working for him. He has no reason to be better.

Punch

Dara Khosrowshahi doesn't have time for your hot takes.

Since taking over as Uber's CEO six years ago, Khosrowshahi has taken a beating from critics. Most acknowledge that Khosrowshahi has had a difficult task – turning around a toxic culture – but they also claim he hasn't done enough to leverage the company's potential since then.

Take Uber's former chief business officer Emil Michael. On a podcast earlier this year, Michael admitted that he and former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick left Khosrowshahi with "challenges." 

Khosrowshahi worked out those challenges, said Michael, because he was a better diplomat, and someone who the press simply "liked a lot more" than him and Kalanick. But likability and effectiveness, said Michael, are separate things.

"Ideally you want to be both," Michael said. "[Khosrowshahi] clearly ranks high in the likability score. But from an effectiveness standpoint, if you're measuring by stock price, that's been a D or a D-minus."

Michael also goes on to criticize Uber for getting "whooped" by DoorDash in the US food delivery business. The reason?

"Tony Zhu [DoorDash's CEO] is an entrepreneur," Michael said. "Not sort of a, you know, caretaker, diplomat type CEO."

When confronted with Michael's comments in a recent interview with Wired, Khosrowshahi had a perfect response.

"These are sound bites," said Khosrowshahi. "I don't label people. If you're a founder, you have your strengths and weaknesses. And if you're a professional CEO, you have your strengths and weaknesses. I have a lot of respect for Tony. I think we've got the best team in the business and a competitive advantage in scale and in our platform. So, I'll let the results speak."

Khosrowshahi's reply is full of lessons in emotional intelligence, the ability to balance and manage emotions. But five words really stick out: 

"I'll let the results speak."

Just a few hours after Khosrowshahi's reply was published, the world found out via a quarterly earnings call what Khosrowshahi already knew: 

Uber had become profitable. 

Yes, for the first time since the company began reporting earnings, Uber reported a quarterly profit – to the tune of $326 million in operating income for the second quarter. And Khosrowshahi says the company plans to be profitable every quarter moving forward.

Let's analyze why Khosrowshahi's response is so valuable, and see what business owners can learn from it. (If you enjoy this article, check out my free emotional intelligence course, which will help you and your team build emotional intelligence.) 

How to reply with emotional intelligence: Focus on results

As a business owner, it's easy to get distracted by noise from critics. 

Sometimes, that noise takes the form of a thoughtless comment. Other times, it may be a sound bite that's been taken out of context. And, yes, sometimes it's a direct attack on your performance, or even your character.

It's easy to take comments like this personally. But doing so is self-defeating. When you sit and fume – or, even worse, expend extra energy responding to those comments – you lose time and distract yourself from your primary goals.

That's why this response is so great.

With just five words, Khosrowshahi:

• Doesn't take the comments personally
• Avoids getting baited into a meaningless fight
• Shifts focus to what really matters

In doing so, Khosrowshahi provides a real-life case study in emotional intelligence, and shows how to make emotions work for you, instead of against you.

So, the next time someone criticizes you, or relays criticism from someone else, resist the urge to take offense. Instead, stay focused on what's important and ...

Let the results speak for themselves.

Inc

Ajuri Ngelale, special adviser to President Bola Tinubu on media and publicity, says his principal has promised there will be no further increase in the petrol pump price.

Speaking to journalists in Abuja on Tuesday, Ngelale said the proposed strike by the NLC is premature.

“The president wishes first to state that it is incumbent upon all stakeholders in the country to hold their peace. We have heard very recently from the organised labour movement in the country with respect to their most recent threat,” he said.

“We believe that the threat was premature and that there is a need on all sides to ensure that fact-finding and diligence is done on what the current state of the downstream and midstream petroleum industry is before any threats or conclusions are arrived at or issued.

“Secondly, Mr. President, wishes to assure Nigerians, following the announcement by the NNPC limited just yesterday, that there will be no increase in the pump price of petroleum motor spirit anywhere in the country.

“We repeat, the president affirms that there will be no increase in the pump price of petroleum motor spirit.”

Ngelale said Tinubu is determined to maintain competitive tension within all sub-sectors of the petroleum industry.

He said the president is determined to ensure that “our policy drawn up as well as policy implemented follows the cue that there will not be any single one entity dominating the market”.

“The market has been deregulated. It has been liberalised and we are moving forward in that direction without looking back,” Ngelale said.

“The president also wishes to affirm that there are presently inefficiencies within the midstream and downstream petroleum sub-sectors that once very swiftly addressed and cleaned up will ensure that we can maintain prices where they are without having to resort to a reversal of this administration’s deregulation policy in the petroleum industry.”

The Cable

Nigeria’s inflation rate climbed to a fresh 18-year high on surging transport costs and food prices, adding to pressure on the central bank to raise borrowing costs when it meets next month.

Consumer prices rose an annual 24.1% in July, compared with 22.8% in the prior month, according to the data published on the National Bureau of Statistics’ website on Tuesday. Inflation was last at that level in September 2005. The median estimate of seven economists in a Bloomberg survey was 23.6%. Prices rose 2.9% month-on-month.

The uptick was broad-based with annual food inflation quickening to 27% in July from 25.3% a month earlier and core, which excludes farm produce, accelerating to 20.5% from 20.3%.

The upswings were fueled by a 40% slump in the Naira against the dollar since June, the widening spread between the official and parallel market rate, and the removal of costly fuel subsides introduced in the 1970s.

The currency depreciation is being stoked by dollar shortages, the easing of foreign-exchange controls, and revelations in the central bank’s long-delayed financial statements that effective forex reserves at its disposal were much lower than previously disclosed.

Acting central bank Governor Folashodun Shonubi on Monday blamed the widening spread on speculators and said the regulator would act soon to address it.

“Sooner rather than later, the speculators should be careful, because we believe the things we’re doing when they come to fruition may result in significant losses to them,” he told reporters in Abuja, the capital.

The currency pressures and second round effects from the scrapping of fuel subsidies may persuade the central bank’s monetary policy committee to increase interest rates at its Sept. 25-26 meeting for an unprecedentedninth time in a row.

The MPC has increased rates by 725 basis points since May 2022 to rein in inflation that’s been at more than double the top end of its 6% to 9% target range for over a year.

Bloomberg

The dollar has crashed to between N805 to N790 at the parallel exchange market on Tuesday.

It started a steady decline from N925 to N930 that it was exchanged in the morning till around 4:00 pm when news about a possible Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) intervention filtered through to the Bureau De Change (BDC) operators.

Recall that the CBN announced plans to take critical decisions to reverse the slide of the naira in the next few days, thereby resulting in significant losses to the speculators.

Acting CBN governor, Folashodun Shonubi, dropped the hint on Monday while briefing State House reporters after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Checks by our reporters at Allen Avenue and Gbagada in Lagos suggest that the BDCs were buying at N900 and selling at N910, after touching N970 to the dollar earlier in the day.

At the Wapa forex market in Kano, the BDCs were buying at N875 and selling at N905 to the dollar.

Further checks at Zone 4 BDCs market in Abuja revealed how the money speculators in the area were taken unawares by the development.

However, at the Investors and Exporters window, the dollar opened at N789/$, got to a high of N799/$ and a low of N740/$ and eventually closed at N774/4, N10 higher than the N764/$ it closed the previous day.

Reacting to the development, one of the money exchange operators who spoke to our reporter said, the dollar may crash further adding that many people will lose money because they purchased the dollar at a higher rate than what it is being exchanged for.

A customer who spoke to our correspondent said, he asked about the exchange rate in the morning and was told it is being exchanged at N930 to a dollar.

He however said on coming to exchange it in the evening he was told that it had crashed adding that, the first price he was told was N850, but in less than 30 minutes, it crashed to N790 and when he was left without a choice, he had to exchange it at N790.

One of the BDC operators at Zone 4, Ibrahim Muhammad said on the telephone, that the crash has caused a sudden turn of events that will cause a huge loss to many people in the parallel exchange market.

“They have just sent the BDCs bidding eligibility list to us. Nobody can predict what will happen next.

“If this happens after the meeting, what will happen after the CBN comes up with a new intervention policy to shore up the Naira can just be imagined. So, for now, we are waiting to see what happens tomorrow. It may appreciate a little, but it may also crash further. It is still being exchanged between N800 and N790 as we speak”.

Daily Trust

Federal government prosecutors filed a 20-count indictment against suspended and detained Central Bank of Nigeria governor Godwin Emefiele on Tuesday, one of them accusing him of "conferring unlawful advantages", a government lawyer said.

President Bola Tinubu has launched a probe of the CBN under Emefiele after criticising its policies at his inauguration in May, especially moves to prop up the Naira.

It was not immediately clear what the new charges were. But court documents deposed by the Attorney General's Office last month showed that Emefiele faced criminal breach of trust and criminal misappropriation of funds charges, among others, which carry long jail terms.

Emefiele, who was detained on June 10, a day after Tinubu suspended him, pleaded not guilty to a charge of possessing a firearm. A judge granted him bail following his plea on July 25 but he was immediately rearrested.

"We have filed a matter with comprehensive charges" and "we are withdrawing the (firearm) case at the Federal High Court in Lagos," a government lawyer told our correspondent.

Emefiele has challenged his detention and filed an application for bail. He could not immediately be reached for comment.

Emefiele introduced a multiple exchange rate policy to keep the currency artificially strong, which former President Muhammadu Buhari had viewed as a matter of national pride.

Buhari appointed Emefiele for a second five-year term in 2019. He was due to retire next year.

Reuters

A Nigerian academic based in the United States, Toyin Falola, says the political elite in Nigeria must reform the country’s governance to deliver socio-economic prosperity to its citizens.

Falola, a renowned professor of History at the University of Texas at Austin, USA, said the fallouts of government’s failure to tackle corruption would be uncontrollable.

He spoke on Tuesday as the keynote speaker at a national policy dialogue on corruption organised by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) in Abuja.

Speaking on the topic, ‘Corruption, Social Norms and Behaviour Change in Nigeria,’ the academic recalled the transformative journey of the Chinese, Malaysians and Japanese in tackling corruption and providing social services for their populace.

“If they politicians and political parties are not ready to reform, they will not be able to control the consequences.

“If they want a jihad (holy war), the citizens will give them one,” Falola said, adding that “issues around arising poverty” must be addressed through the creation of a middle-class.

He took a swipe at western countries for ignoring the undemocratic governance structures of global bodies like the UN and the IMF, but labelling Africans as “corrupt and bad.”

“Majority of our population are not corrupt,” the historian noted, wondering why the majority of the masses tolerate corruption.

“How can we ask the silent majority to radicalise their objection to corruption? It is doable,” he assured drawing applause from the audience in the packed ICPC auditorium.

Falola explained that “corruption in Nigeria is a complex issue deeply rooted in social norms and cultural factors.”

“These influential forces play a significant role in shaping the prevalence of corruption within the country. The practices of “clientelism” and “godfatherism” play a significant role in fostering corruption within societies.”

Tackling corruption

Shying away from what the effects of corruption are, Falola said merely increasing workers’ wages would not combat endemic corruption in public service.

Proffering solutions to the problem of malfeasance, the famous historian said “we have to reduce monetary attraction of public office holders.”

“In the fight against corruption, it is crucial to focus on transforming behaviours and fostering a culture of integrity and accountability. This requires active participation from individuals across different sectors.”

He urged the government to build strong institutions and provide social safety nets for the citizens. He suggested that “to effectively combat corruption, it is crucial to have ethical leaders who prioritise integrity and international cooperation.”

Corruption fuelled by community expectations

Chairperson of the ICPC, Bolaji Owasanoye, said there is a nexus between rampant corruption in Nigeria and community expectations of public office holders.

Owasanoye, a law professor and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), pointed out one of the social norms which expects government officials to donate huge sums of money at public gatherings without considering the legitimate earnings of such officials.

He noted that people pay scant attention to the consequences of such expectations that breed embezzlement and nepotism.

While combating corruption through the criminal justice system, the ICPC boss said it was imperative to adopt “anti-corruption social norms.”

He recommended that “all stakeholders should lead by example to inspire their members and constituents” against corruption.

He called for “a reward system for those who demonstrate good behavior or who stand against corruption in their constituencies.”

“Federal and State Ministries of Education should develop and implement behavior change programmes in primary and secondary schools for the youths.”

Owasanoye said Tuesday’s event was the 6th in the series of policy dialogues on fighting corruption which began in 2019.

PT

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine says Russian drones threatened Danube port, key for grain exports

Ukraine's air force on Wednesday said a large group of Russian army drones entered the mouth of the Danube river and headed toward the Izmail river port near the border with Romania.

Social media groups reported hearing air defence systems firing in the area near two Danube ports - Izmail and Reni.

Governor of southern Odesa region, Oleh Kiper, asked residents of Izmail district to take shelter at around 1:30 a.m. (2230 GMT) and cancelled the air raid alert one hour later.

Ukraine's Danube ports accounted for around a quarter of grain exports before Russia pulled out of a U.N.-backed deal to provide safe passage for the export of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea. They have since become the main route out, with grain sent on barges to Romania's Black Sea port of Constanta for shipment onwards.

A Russian attack on the Izmail port sent global food prices higher in early August.

** Ukraine's frontline farmers face Russian rockets and rock-bottom prices

Less than 30 km (19 miles) from Ukraine's southeastern front line, rural farmers whose businesses have survived Russian rockets now fear another hammer blow to their livelihoods: rock-bottom prices for their harvest.

Mykola, a 63-year-old farmer in Dnipropetrovsk region, told Reuters on Tuesday he had to keep his crops in a missile-damaged storage site because he could not afford to spend money fixing it in case it was wrecked again by another rocket.

And yet, he is not rushing to sell.

"The price (for crops) is not acceptable for the farmers. We will store them and see what is going to happen. To restore the storage one has to have funds. With the current price for our grain it is not realistic to restore it."

The price which Ukrainian farmers receive from traders for their produce plunged to painful lows in July, when Moscow abandoned a UN-brokered deal that allowed agricultural exports from Ukraine to be safely shipped via the Black Sea.

With that route now closed, farmers all over Ukraine, one of the world's largest growers of wheat and sunflowers, face a losing battle to get their produce out through land and river, routes that can only take a fraction of normal export volumes.

The farmers of Velykomykhailivka must juggle their worries about collapsing prices and export difficulties with the prospect of more Russian missiles crashing into their farms.

"It took more than 20 years to build this. It was destroyed in one day," 60-year-old Valeriy Krut said mournfully of his business, where a missile attack last year destroyed 200 tons of grain and 14 vehicles.

"This is the question: throw it all away or to maybe try to hold on? We won't have any profit this year with such storages and crop prices."

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

No pressure for peace from West – Kiev

Kiev is under no pressure from Washington and its allies when it comes to potential peace negotiations with Moscow, Aleksey Danilov, the head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, has claimed.

The Ukrainian authorities will deal with this issue on their own, he told Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper in an interview published on Tuesday.

The security chief claimed that all reports of Kiev being allegedly pressured into striking a peace deal with Moscow by its Western backers “exist only on the internet” and are not supported by any real evidence. He also suggested that “Russian trolls” might be behind such rumors.

Danilov’s comments come just days after Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba admitted that Kiev’s foreign backers might push the nation toward negotiations with Moscow as early as this autumn. “These voices [calling for talks] are getting louder,” he told Ukrainian media last week.

Germany’s Die Welt daily also reported in early August that “the West will pressure Ukraine into a ceasefire” at some point in the coming winter.

Ukraine does not need Western nations to deal with the issue of potential negotiations with Russia, the security chief said, adding that Kiev would never hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Danilov maintained that the conflict between the two neighbors can only have a military solution.

“Russia must be destroyed like a modern-day Carthage,” he stated, referring to the infamous proverbial phrase used by Roman Senator Cato the Elder to demand a third war with the ancient Mediterranean state of Carthage. “You cannot leave your enemy standing behind you,” Danilov added.

Danilov has been known as a hardliner when it comes to Ukraine’s dealings with Russia. The security chief, as well as other top Ukrainian officials, have repeatedly made derogatory remarks about Russians during – and even well before – the conflict broke out in February 2022.

In early August, he called Russians “Asians” and claimed that “humanity” is the key difference between them and Ukrainians. Danilov also repeatedly promised to “kill” Russians anywhere across the globe.

Moscow has stated throughout the conflict that it is ready to start peace talks with Kiev immediately, as long as its security interests and the new status quo on the ground are respected. In autumn 2022, four former Ukrainian regions, including the two Donbass republics, formally joined Russia following referendums.

Kiev has demanded the unconditional Russian withdrawal from territories Kiev claims as its own, including Crimea, and called it the only acceptable framework for talks. Russia has rejected these conditions as unrealistic.

In October 2022, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky banned any negotiations with Putin. Last week, Kuleba insisted that Zelensky will “never be able” to sit down at the negotiating table with the Russian leader.

** Should Ukraine agree to relinquish territories, it will lose Kiev — Medvedev

Should Ukraine agree to relinquish disputed territories for the sake of joining NATO, it will have to give up even Kiev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, said on his Telegram channel.

While commenting on a remark by the director of NATO’s Secretary-General’s Private Office, Stian Jenssen, to the effect that Ukraine might become a member of the alliance in case of territorial concessions to Russia, Medvedev wrote: "Why? The idea is curious. The only question is that all of allegedly ‘their’ territories are highly disputable. To enter the bloc [NATO], the Kiev authorities would have to give up even Kiev itself, the capital of Ancient Rus," he added.

"Well, they (the Ukrainian authorities) would have to move the capital to Lvov then. If, of course, the Poles agree," Medvedev remarked.

The director of NATO Secretary General’s Private Office, Stian Jenssen, said earlier on Tuesday that Ukraine could become a NATO member if it agreed to cede territories that it currently refused to recognize as part of Russia.

Reuters/RT/Tass

More than 1 million people have fled Sudan to neighbouring states and people inside the country are running out of food and dying due to lack of healthcare after four months of war, the United Nations warned on Tuesday.

Fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has devastated the capital Khartoum and sparked ethnically driven attacks in Darfur, threatening to plunge Sudan into a protracted civil war and destabilise the region.

"Time is running out for farmers to plant the crops that will feed them and their neighbours. Medical supplies are scarce. The situation is spiralling out of control," U.N. agencies said in a joint statement.

"At the end of the day, this war will end at a negotiating table," said deputy Sovereign Council head Malik Agar, in a potential softening of the army's stance, citing the hardships citizens have endured.

The war has caused 1,017,449 people to cross from Sudan into neighbouring countries, many already struggling with the impact of conflicts or economic crises, while those displaced within Sudan are estimated to number 3,433,025, according to the latest weekly figures published by the IOM.

Fighting erupted on April 15 over tensions linked to a planned transition to civilian rule, exposing civilians in the capital and beyond to daily battles and attacks.

The millions who remain in Khartoum and cities in the Darfur and Kordofan regions have faced rampant looting and long power, communications and water cuts.

"The remains of many of those killed have not been collected, identified or buried," but the U.N. estimates that more than 4,000 have been killed, Elizabeth Throssell, spokesperson for the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a briefing in Geneva.

Reports of sexual assaults have increased by 50%, said U.N. population fund official Laila Baker.

BLACKOUT

Large swathes of the country have been suffering from an electricity blackout since Sunday that has also taken mobile networks offline, according to a statement from the national electricity authority.

Agar said the circumstances necessitated the formation of a caretaker government to provide services and to rebuild.

Seasonal rains that increase the risk of water-borne diseases have destroyed or damaged the homes of up to 13,500 people, the U.N. estimates.

In a speech on Monday, army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan accused the RSF of aiming "to take the country back to an era before the modern state" and "committing every crime that can be imagined."

The RSF has accused the army of trying to seize full power under the direction of loyalists of Omar al-Bashir, the autocratic leader who was toppled during a popular uprising in 2019.

Efforts led by Saudi Arabia and the United States to negotiate a ceasefire in the current conflict have stalled, and humanitarian agencies have struggled to provide relief because of insecurity, looting and bureaucratic hurdles.

Reuters