The main events by the morning: June 17

• The Swiss conference on Ukraine turned out to be a «failure». 160 countries were invited to the summit. However, only 101 delegations participated – 78 countries signed the final communiqué, 15 refused. Armenia, Brazil, India, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, South Africa and the UAE refused to sign the final declaration of the conference, which reflects Russia's economic strength and influence in the international arena.

• Russia is facing big problems in importing Chinese goods. In June, the delivery time by sea and train increased to 55-60 days, which is a third higher than in May. The reason is the delayed demand: the situation with payments between the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China began to improve, which led to a sharp increase in demand for logistics services. There are not enough containers and capacities, transport hubs do not have time to process everything, prices have increased by 30-40%.

• The G7 countries will monitor and block the Russian «shadow fleet». The British Foreign Secretary said that the West intends to continue to provide full support to Ukraine and tighten existing sanctions, including blocking ships from the Russian shadow fleet.

• NATO is discussing putting nuclear weapons on alert. Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said it was necessary to demonstrate a nuclear arsenal in response to the growing threats from Russia and China. According to him, NATO should send a clear signal to its opponents, demonstrating its readiness to use nuclear weapons.

• China has become a leader in the electric vehicle market. In 2023, every third new car in the country was electric. China accounted for about 60% of global electric vehicle sales, and demand continues to grow strongly. In a number of countries, the share of electric vehicles in total car sales exceeds 40%, and China will remain the leading player in this segment in the coming years.