UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace made unwanted headlines with his comments about 'gratitude' and 'Amazon' over Western aid to Ukraine, but his press briefing at Nato contained some fascinating, and largely unreported, intel on Kyiv's counter-offensive. 1/ Wallace dismissed concerns over the pace of Ukraine’s offensive. He said Kyiv’s forces were ‘advancing every day’, but had been somewhat slower than expected because Russia's lessons learned and they've adapted accordingly. /2

1/ Here's what to expect when Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, sets out the contents of her Northern Ireland Protocol Bill to the Commons on Monday afternoon.
It will make changes to four key areas of the current agreement;
Customs
VAT & subsidies
Divergence
Governance 2/ Why is the Gov introducing the bill? Truss will say it is needed because the EU has not shown a willingness to change the text of the current Protocol and address the issues being caused in NI, and now Gov is obliged to act to protect the GFA and restore political stability.

'The world can see unity is our strength,' says Ursula von der Leyen. 'We will hold Russia accountable for this outrageous violation of Ukraine's sovereignty snd territorial integrity.' 'We will later today present a package of massive and targeted sanctions to European leaders for their approval,' Ursula von der Leyen adds.

Big, moment for EU leaders today. Despite reaching an agreement on sanctions yesterday, many EU nations were palpably angry the measures didn’t go far enough, because the bloc couldn’t target oligarchs, like the US and EU.
Source says: ‘It risks Global Britain trumping Europe.’ EU leaders hold an emergency summit in Brussels this evening, will they be able to agree on a genuinely tough package, or will the doves - Italy, Spain, Austria, to name a few - insist on further ‘incremental’ steps in the face of a full-blown Russian invasion of Ukraine.

.@jensstoltenberg 'This is the most dangerous moment in European security for a generation.' 'Every indication is Russia continues to plan for a full-scale attack on Ukraine, we see ongoing military build-up, they promised to step back but continued to step up,' @jensstoltenberg added.

Hungary only EU state to resist new sanctions package, Italy and Austria were resisting but ultimately came on board - but helped water down the response.

Of the three, an EU diplomat says: 'It wouldn’t be the first time they find themselves on the wrong side of history.' EU's latest sanction mirrors its 2014 response to the annexation of Crimea, travel bans and asset freezes on people involved. These measures upgraded to hit 351 Duma reps that voted in favour of recognition of Ukraine's breakaway states, and military commanders involved.

The Government has released its numbers in the battle over post-Brexit fishing licences. In a written statement, Victoria Prentis, fisheries minister, says 98 per cent of EU applications have been approved – 1,831 received and 1,793 approved in UK's 6-12 and 12-200 mile zones. The UK has approved all of the 1,678 applications for EU trawlers to operate in the 12-200 nautical mile zones. This includes 736 French boats, 358 Irish, 192 Dutch.

Appearing before the Commons' EU Scrutiny Committee, @DavidGHFrost says he's 'not interested in arrangements that keep the [ECJ] in place with some other name for it' in a new governance system for the Northern Ireland Protocol. Lord Frost, the UK's Brexit negotiator, sets out that he wants to see an 'arbitration mechanism', similar to the one in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, to resolve disputes over the protocol to avoid a hard border.

Senior European source tells me Boris Johnson is willing to accept that the EU hands back just 25 percent of the value of fish it catches in British waters, over a 5.5-year transition period. The UK was previously insisting on 35 percent, over three years. Seen as a significant concession by the EU side, and likely to anger Brexiteers in Britain.

EU source says: 'Big move by Johnson.'

1/ The EU has agreed to water down its demands for 'cross retaliation' clauses as part of the governance talks. Michel Barnier has accepted that police and judicial cooperation should be exempt from the cross-retaliatory tools in any post-Brexit trade and security deal. 2/ The UK is pushing back against EU plans for an extensive dispute settlement clause that would allow for 'cross suspension' across the Brexit deal, for example a row over fisheries could see tariffs slapped on cars if arbitration fails.

1: Ahead of the ninth formal round of Brexit trade talks in Brussels, there is a sense of cautious optimism a deal can still be found. Michel Barnier, while saying the UK's Internal Market Bill is 'unhelpful', has claimed the legislation created an 'opening', a source says. 2: Even after a few turbulent weeks, technical-level negotiations are said to be progressing well. Barnier earlier this week briefed EU27 ministers, saying there is now a 'much more open atmosphere at the negotiating table', another source says.

Germany's agriculture minister Julia Klockner showed no sign that EU member states are ready to soften their demands for access to UK coastal waters.

'For fisheries, we want to ensure we have at least the status quo,' she told the EU Parliament's fisheries committee. The Brexit row over fisheries is 'a real sticking point in the conclusion of any agreement' between the UK and EU, Ms Klockner said.

She added: 'There is a clear link between a general free-trade agreement and a specific fisheries agreement. We cannot separate the two.'

1/ Don't expect white smoke from Michel Barnier and David Frost when they wrap up the fourth round of Brexit talks this afternoon. Still gaps in both sides' fundamental positions – governance, level-playing field and fisheries. But this doesn't mean talks are not moving forward. 2/ Neither side expected there to be a breakthrough this week. EU sources say it's far too early for a compromise, that comes later with the added time pressure of the expiration of the transition period at the end of the year.

1/ Michel Barnier offered a downbeat assessment of the post-Brexit trade talks to the EU Parliament's Conference of Presidents today. Barnier repeated, almost word-for-word, the letter he sent to opposition MPs in Westminster – confirmed the EU's support for a two-year delay. 2/ Barnier told senior MEPs that regulatory alignment – the level-playing field – and fisheries remain the most 'divisive issues', a source in the room tells me. More interestingly, Barnier seems confident that a fisheries agreement is the easier of the two to do a deal on.

1/ Chief negotiators David Frost and Michel Barnier are due to speak on the phone tomorrow to tee up the next week's round trade talks. Despite a recent tetchy exchange of letters, chances of a deal aren't as distant as they seem – with even a fisheries compromise in sight. 2/ Access to Britain's fishing waters has been a particular flashpoint in the process. Downing Street has argued the EU is simply trying to continue the Common Fisheries Policy with Barnier's request to 'uphold' the status quo.

After the third round of UK-EU trade talks, Michel Barnier also says talks were once again 'disappointing'. There wasn't any progress on fisheries and the regulatory playing field. Barnier: 'We remain determined to continue to work together to build an ambitious partnership with the UK.' Followed by another moan about Boris Johnson's intention not to extend the post-Brexit transition period.

1/ Michael Gove yesterday wrote to the European Commission to express concern over EU member states failing Britons and not carrying out their obligations under the Withdrawal Agreement. assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl… 2/ Gove said: 'A serious risk EU will not fulfil its obligations under the Withdrawal Agreement. We are already seeing several instances of misapplication.'

PM’s spokesman said: ‘The Prime Minister spoke to the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen today about the response to the coronavirus pandemic...

https://twitter.com/Barnes_Joe/status/1258699688359923712

... Both leaders welcomed the good cooperation between the UK and the EU on coronavirus, including on the global effort to repatriate citizens.

EU trade commissioner Phil Hogan on UK offer to drop 'zero tariff' for relaxation of level-playing field requests: 'I hope that Michael Gove would negotiate directly with Mr Barnier and the team... We're going to have to make difficult decisions at the end of June'. Hogan insists 'size matters' when asked if UK-US trade talks could impact those with the EU. He adds: 'Korea want to wait to see the outcome of the Brexit negotiations before they come to any conclusion... I suspect that to be the same with the US.

Michel Barnier says there must be 'parallel progress' on all subjects in the UK trade talks, even the 'most difficult ones'. He adds the aim of 'tangible' progress has only been 'partially' met. 'We cannot accept to make selective progress on the limited set of issues only. We need to make progress on all issues in parallel,' Barnier says.

1/ Michel Barnier and David Frost are today hoping to reboot post-Brexit trade talks – with the aim of establishing a timetable for formal negotiating rounds via video link, expected to resume week of April 20. 2/ Concrete negotiations have understandably been on the back burner with both sides focused on combatting the global pandemic. But behind the scenes, officials have been speaking over the telephone and working on 'clarifying' draft legal texts they have both shared.