Tag: Vladimir Putin

Live: Russian reinforcements pour into eastern Ukraine, new assault expected

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Russia was pouring reinforcements into eastern Ukraine ahead of an expected new offensive that could begin next week along a front where there have been relentless battles for months, a Ukrainian governor said. Follow FRANCE 24’s liveblog for the latest developments. All times are Paris time (GMT+1).

12:32pm: Russia advancing ‘with success’ in eastern Ukraine, Shoigu says

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said Tuesday that Moscow‘s forces were “progressing with success” near the eastern Ukrainian towns of Bakhmut and Vuhledar, warning the West against ramping up arms supplies to Kyiv.

The two towns in the eastern region of Donetsk are the epicentre of hostilities and the scene of some of the heaviest fighting since Russia sent troops into Ukraine on February 24 last year.

“Military operations are at the moment progressing with success in the areas around Vuhledar and Artemovsk,” Shoigu told a defence meeting using the previous name for Bakhmut. He listed seven settlements that Russia has recently “liberated”, including the salt-mining town of Soledar that came under Russian control in January.

12:15pm: Russian shells spark hospital fire before expected assault

Russian shelling hit more civilian targets in Ukraine, starting a fire at a town’s hospital and damaging five apartment buildings, local officials said Tuesday, as Ukrainian authorities reported a Moscow troop buildup in eastern areas before what Kyiv suspected was an impending new offensive by Russia around the anniversary of its invasion.

A hospital in the northeastern town of Vovchansk caught fire late Monday as a result of the shelling, regional Ukrainian emergency services reported.

The shelling caused multiple fires in the town, including at its two-story municipal hospital, the State Emergency Service in the northeastern Kharkiv region said in an online statement. Emergency crews evacuated eight civilians from the site before putting out the blaze, which caused no casualties, authorities said.

Vovchansk is in the Kharkiv region, which was occupied by Russia after its full-scale invasion on February 24 and subsequently retaken by Ukraine during a counteroffensive last year. The anticipated Russian push may seek to recapture territory Moscow lost during that counteroffensive.

11:58am: Paris mayor against Russian athletes at 2024 Olympics ‘while war goes on’

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo is opposed to the presence of Russian competitors at the 2024 Olympics “while the war continues” in Ukraine, her office said on Tuesday.

It represents a change in Hidalgo’s position. She said last month that she believed Russians could take part “under a neutral flag” to avoid “depriving athletes of competition”.

11:05am: Russia says NATO involvement in Ukraine threatens ‘unpredictable’ escalation

Russia‘s defence minister said on Tuesday that Western arms shipments to Ukraine were effectively dragging NATO into the conflict, warning this could lead to an “unpredictable” level of escalation.

“The US and its allies are trying to prolong the conflict as much as possible,” Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.

“To do this, they have started supplying heavy offensive weapons, openly urging Ukraine to seize our territories. In fact, such steps are dragging NATO countries into the conflict and could lead to an unpredictable level of escalation,” he said.

9:14am: BP posts annual loss on Russia exit, despite oil price surge

BP slid into a net loss last year after its exit from Russia following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the British energy giant announced Tuesday, despite the surge in oil prices.

The company posted annual losses after tax totalling $2.5 billion, compared with net profit of $7.6 billion in 2021.

Excluding the exceptional hit, profit more than doubled to $27.7 billion on soaring oil and gas prices — mirroring huge 2022 earnings by BP’s rivals.

Oil and gas prices soared last year after the attack by major energy producer Russia on neighbouring Ukraine triggered massive supply constraints.

9:11am: Swiss neutrality on the line as arms-for-Ukraine debate heats up

Switzerland is close to breaking with centuries of tradition as a neutral state, as a pro-Ukraine shift in the public and political mood puts pressure on the government to end a ban on exports of Swiss weapons to war zones.

Buyers of Swiss arms are legally prevented from re-exporting them, a restriction that some representing the country’s large weapons industry say is now hurting trade.

Calls from Switzerland’s European neighbours to allow such transfers to Kyiv have meanwhile grown louder as Russia’s assault intensifies, and parliament’s two security committees recommended that the rules be eased accordingly.

Lawmakers are divided on the issue. “We want to be neutral, but we are part of the western world,” said Thierry Burkart, leader of the centre-right FDP party, who has submitted a motion to the government to allow arms re-exports to countries with similar democratic values to Switzerland.

7:46am: Russia likely restarted Ukraine offensive operations in January, Britain says

Russia’s military likely attempted to restart major offensive operations in Ukraine since early January this year, with the goal of capturing Ukraine-held parts of Donetsk, Britain’s Defence Intelligence update said on Tuesday.

However, it remains unlikely that Russia will be able to build up the forces required to significantly affect the war’s outcome within the next few weeks, the update added.

6:00am: Russia says protective structures at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant near completion

The construction of protective structures for key facilities at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southeast Ukraine is nearing completion, Russia‘s state TASS news agency reported on Tuesday, citing an adviser to the head of Russia’s nuclear plants operator.

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, was captured by Russian troops in March of last year, in the opening days of Moscow‘s invasion in Ukraine.

It remains close to the frontlines, and has repeatedly come under fire, raising fears of a nuclear disaster.

5:28am: Russia’s Lavrov visits Mali in sign of deepening ties

Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Mali early Tuesday for talks with its junta leaders seeking Moscow’s help in battling an Islamist insurgency that remains entrenched despite years of fighting.

Lavrov, who was in Iraq on Monday, was welcomed upon his arrival by his counterpart Abdoulaye Diop. The two men did not make any statements to journalists. The visit of fewer than 24 hours will be his third trip to Africa since July, part of a bid to expand Russia’s presence on the continent amid broad international isolation after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine last year.

Since taking control of Mali in two coups since August 2020, the military junta led by Colonel Assimi Goita has embraced Russian support to aid its anti-jihadist fight after successfully demanding that French troops leave.

1:21am: Ukraine withdraws 19 million Russian and Soviet-era books from libraries

Ukraine had withdrawn from its libraries about 19 million copies of books by last November that came either from the Soviet era or were in Russian, a senior lawmaker said on Monday.

Yevheniya Kravchuk, deputy head of the Ukrainian parliament’s committee on humanitarian and information policy, said that of the 19 million books, 11 million were in Russian.

“Some Ukrainian-language books from the Soviet era are also written off,” Kravchuk said according to a statement published on the website of the Verkhovna Rada, the country’s parliament. “There are also recommendations to write off and remove books whose authors supported armed aggression against Ukraine.” It was not immediately clear what happened to the withdrawn books.

12:02am: Russian reinforcements pour into eastern Ukraine

Russia was pouring reinforcements into eastern Ukraine ahead of a new offensive that could begin next week along a front where there have been relentless battles for months, a Ukrainian governor said.

Desperate for Western military aid to arrive, Ukraine anticipates a major offensive could be launched by Russia for “symbolic” reasons around the February 24 anniversary of the invasion. Ukraine is itself planning a spring offensive to recapture lost territory, but awaiting delivery of promised longer-range Western missiles and battle tanks, with some analysts saying the country was months away from being ready.

“We are seeing more and more (Russian) reserves being deployed in our direction, we are seeing more equipment being brought in,” said Serhiy Haidai, Ukrainian governor of the mainly Russian-occupied Luhansk province.

“They bring ammunition that is used differently than before – it is not round-the-clock shelling anymore. They are slowly starting to save, getting ready for a full-scale offensive,” Haidai told Ukrainian television.

“It will most likely take them 10 days to gather reserves. After February 15 we can expect (this offensive) at any time.”

 

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(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)

 

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Ukraine calls for fighter jets as fierce battles rage in Bakhmut

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Ukraine’s defence minister said on Sunday the reluctance of Western allies to send fighter jets would cost Ukrainian forces “more lives” as fierce fighting continued in the eastern battleground city of Bakhmut. Earlier, Germany’s prosecutor general said his office had collected “hundreds” of pieces of evidence showing war crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine, calling for an international effort to bring leaders to justice. Follow our blog to see how the day’s events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+1).

This live blog is no longer being updated. For more of our coverage on the war in Ukraine, please click here.

10:30pm: Ukraine ‘to replace defence minister’ after corruption scandals

Ukraine’s defence minister Oleksiy Reznikov will be replaced by the chief of the military intelligence ahead of an expected Russian offensive and following corruption scandals, a senior lawmaker has said. 

A senior lawmaker close to President Volodymyr Zelensky said 56-year-old Reznikov, one of the best-known faces of the country’s war effort, would be replaced by the country’s head of military intelligence.

“Kyrylo Budanov will head the defence ministry, which is absolutely logical in wartime,” said lawmaker David Arakhamia.

Officials in Kyiv are yet to confirm the cabinet reshuffle.

9:10pm: Zelensky calls situation along Donetsk front line ‘very difficult’

Fierce battles are raging in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region as Russia intensifies pressure before the first anniversary of its invasion of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said in his nightly address.

“Things are very difficult in Donetsk region – fierce battles,” the Ukrainian leader said. “But however difficult it is and however much pressure there is, we must endure… We have no alternative to defending ourselves and winning.”

Russia, he said, was applying increased pressure to “make up for its defeats last year. We see that on various sectors of the front and also pressure in terms of information.”

FRANCE 24’s Andrew Hilliar has more from Ukraine’s southern city of Mykolaiv.


 

7:15pm: Fierce fighting for Ukraine’s Bakhmut, says Wagner chief

The head of Russia’s private Wagner militia says fierce fighting is ongoing in the northern parts of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, which has been the focus of Russian forces’ attention for weeks.

Yevgeniy Prigozhin, the founder and head of the Wagner group, said his soldiers were “fighting for every street, every house, every stairwell” against Ukrainian forces who were not retreating.

Russian forces have been attempting to encircle and capture Bakhmut, a city in the eastern Donbas region, for weeks, and appear to be making slow, grinding and costly progress.

Earlier in the day, Britain’s defence ministry said Russia had made “small advances” in its attempt to encircle Bakhmut.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday described Bakhmut as “our fortress”, saying Ukraine would fight for the city “as long as we can”.

5:40pm: EU bans Russian diesel and other oil products

An EU ban on Russian diesel fuel and other refined oil products has come into force, slashing energy dependency on Moscow and seeking to further crimp the Kremlin’s fossil fuel earnings as punishment for invading Ukraine.

The ban comes along with a price cap agreed by the G7 group of industralised nations. The goal is allowing Russian diesel to keep flowing to countries like China and India and avoiding a sudden price rise that would hurt consumers worldwide, while reducing the profits funding Moscow’s budget and war. 

“Once we have these price caps set, we can squeeze the Russian price and deny them, deny (President Vladimir) Putin money for his war without a price spike that’s going to hurt Western economies and developing economies,” Thomas O’Donnell, a global fellow with the Washington-based Wilson Center, told AP. 

However, the new sanctions create uncertainty about prices as the 27-nation EU finds new supplies of diesel from the US, Middle East and India to replace those from Russia. Those are longer journeys than from Russia’s ports, stretching available tankers. 

4:35pm: Russian attacks on Ukraine’s Kharkiv hit residential building, university

Ukrainian officials say five people were injured in the Russian rocket attacks that targeted the centre of Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city, earlier today. 

Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said four people were injured when a Russian S-300 missile fell near an apartment block and another was hurt when a missile hit a higher-education building.

Local media reports said the building hit was the National Academy for Urban Economy, located about 700 metres from the city’s central square.

FRANCE 24’s Yuka Royer has the story.


 

3:40pm: Ukraine has reserves to repel new Russian offensive

More from the Ukrainian defence minister, who says Kyiv is preparing for a possible major Russian offensive this month, to coincide with the first anniversary of the invasion.

Oleksii Reznikov told a news conference that Ukraine has the reserves to hold back Moscow’s forces even though not all the West’s latest military supplies will have arrived in time.

However, Reznikov also said the reluctance of Kyiv’s Western allies to send fighter jets to Ukraine would cost it “more lives”.

In an interview with FRANCE 24 this week, Igor Zhovkva, an aide to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, said Kyiv remained hopeful that Western countries would agree to deliver fighter jets to Ukraine “soon”.

THE INTERVIEW
THE INTERVIEW © FRANCE 24

 

2:35pm: Ukraine says it will not strike Russian territory with new missiles

Ukraine will not use longer-range weapons pledged by the United States to hit Russian territory and will only target Russian units in occupied Ukrainian territory, Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov has said.

The United States confirmed on Friday that a new rocket that would double Ukraine’s strike range was included in a $2.175 billion US military aid package to help Kyiv fight back Russian forces.

“We always tell our partners officially that we will not use weapons supplied by foreign partners to fire on Russian territory. We only fire on Russian units on temporarily occupied Ukrainian territory,” Reznikov told reporters at a news conference.

1:41pm: Germany has ‘hundreds’ of pieces of Ukraine war crime evidence, prosecutor says

Germany’s prosecutor general said Sunday that his office had collected “hundreds” of pieces of evidence showing war crimes by Russian forces in Ukraine, calling for an international effort to bring leaders to justice.

“At the moment we are focusing on mass killings in Bucha and attacks on Ukraine’s civil infrastructure,” prosecutor Peter Frank told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.

He said most of the evidence came from interviews with Ukrainian refugees, and the goal was now to “prepare for a possible later court case – whether in Germany or with our foreign partners or an international court”.

Frank’s office has previously used the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows the prosecution of certain grave crimes regardless of where they took place, to try Syrians over atrocities committed during the country’s civil war.

11:10am: Fierce fighting in north of Ukraine’s Bakhmut, says Russian head of Wagner militia

The head of Russia’s private Wagner militia said on Sunday that fierce fighting was ongoing in the northern parts of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, which has been the focus of Russian forces’ attention for weeks. Yevgeniy Prigozhin, the founder and head of the Wagner Group, said his soldiers were “fighting for every street, every house, every stairwell” against Ukrainian forces who were not retreating.

Russian forces have been attempting to encircle and capture Bakhmut, a city in the eastern Donbas region, for weeks, and appear to be making slow, grinding and costly progress.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said repeatedly in recent days that the situation around the city is tough. “Nobody will give away Bakhmut. We will fight for as long as we can. We consider Bakhmut our fortress,” he said on Friday.

Britain’s defence ministry said on Sunday Russia had made “small advances” in its attempt to encircle Bakhmut.

8:45am: Ukraine’s forces still hold Bilohorivka, last part of Luhansk region

Ukrainian forces remained in control of the village of Bilohorivka, the Luhansk region governor Serhiy Haidai said on Sunday: “The situation at the front is tense, but controlled by Ukrainian forces,” Haidai said.

“Information is being spread in the Russian Federation about the alleged capture of Bilohorivka and the removal of our people from there,” Haidai told the national broadcaster. “Our troops remain in their positions, nobody has captured Bilohorivka, nobody has entered there, there is no enemy there.”

Some Moscow-installed officials and pro-Russian military bloggers have recently claimed Russian advances in the direction of Bilohorivka, the last part of Luhansk held by Ukrainian forces.

“The number of Russian attacks has … increased, but all of them have been repulsed by our troops, who remain in their positions.”

07:40am: Russian missile hits residential building in Ukraine’s Kharkiv, mayor says

Two Russian missiles hit the centre of Kharkiv, the administrative capital of the Kharkiv region in Ukraine’s northeast, with one of the missiles striking a residential building, the city’s mayor said on Sunday.

“At this time, it known that there is a fire in one of the residential buildings and one injured person,” Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on the Telegram messaging platform.

7:35am: Germany’s Scholz says Putin ‘has not threatened me or Germany’ in telephone calls

Russian President Vladimir Putin in his telephone conversations with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz “has not made any threats against me or Germany”, Scholz said in an interview with Sunday newspaper Bild am Sonntag.

Former British prime minister Boris Johnson, speaking to the BBC for a documentary early this week, said the Russian leader had threatened him with a missile strike that would “only take a minute”. The Kremlin said Johnson was lying.

Scholz said the conversations he had with Putin made it clear they had very different views of the war in Ukraine, which Russia calls a “special military operation”.

“I made it very clear to Putin that Russia has sole responsibility for the war,” Scholz said. “Russia has invaded its neighbour for no reason, in order to take parts of Ukraine or the whole country under its control.” 

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)

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U.S. seeks to expel Russian mercenaries from Sudan, Libya

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The United States has stepped up pressure on Middle East allies to expel the Wagner Group, a military contractor with close ties to Russia’s President, from chaos-stricken Libya and Sudan where it expanded in recent years, regional officials told The Associated Press.

The U.S. effort described by officials comes as the Joe Biden administration is making a broad push against the mercenaries. The U. S. has slapped new sanctions on the Wagner Group in recent months over its expanding role in Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The group is owned by Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Pentagon has described it as a surrogate for the Russian Defence Ministry. The Kremlin denies any connection.

The Joe Biden administration has been working for months with regional powers Egypt and the United Arab Emirates to pressure military leaders in Sudan and Libya to end their ties with the group, according to more than a dozen Libyan, Sudanese and Egyptian officials. They asked for anonymity to speak freely and because they were not authorised to discuss the issue with the media.

“Wagner obsesses them (American officials),” said an Egyptian senior government official with direct knowledge of the talks. “It is at the top of every meeting.”

The group doesn’t announce its operations, but its presence is known from reports on the ground and other evidence. In Sudan, it was originally associated with former strongman Omar al-Bashir and now works with the military leaders who replaced him. In Libya, it’s associated with east Libya-based military commander Khalifa Hifter.

Wagner has deployed thousands of operatives in African and Middle Eastern countries including Mali, Libya, Sudan, the Central African Republic, and Syria. Its aim in Africa, analysts say, is to support Russia’s interests amid rising global interest in the resource-rich continent. Rights experts working with the U.S. on January 31 accused the group of committing possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in Mali, where it is fighting alongside government forces.

“Wagner tends to target countries with natural resources that can be used for Moscow’s objectives – gold mines in Sudan, for example, where the resulting gold can be sold in ways that circumvent Western sanctions,” said Catrina Doxsee, an expert on Wagner at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Mr. Prigozhin did not respond to a request for comment sent to the press department of the Concord Group, of which he is an owner. The group’s role in Libya and Sudan was central to recent talks between CIA director William Burns and officials in Egypt and Libya in January. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also discussed the group with President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi in a late-January trip to Cairo, Egyptian officials said. Weeks after the visits, Mr. Burns acknowledged in a Thursday speech at Georgetown University in Washington D.C., that after recent travel to Africa he was concerned about the Wagner’s growing influence in the continent.

“That is a deeply unhealthy development and we’re working very hard to counter it,” Mr. Burns said. Mr. Burns and Antony Blinken called on el-Sissi’s government to help convince Sudan’s ruling generals and Libya’s Hifter to end their dealings with the Wagner, an Egyptian official briefed on the talks said.

The group and its founder have been under U.S. sanctions since 2017, and the Biden administration in December announced new export restrictions to restrict its access to technology and supplies, designating it as a “significant transnational criminal organisation.”

SUDAN

Leaders in Sudan have received repeated U.S. messages about Wagner’s growing influence in recent months, via Egypt and Gulf states, said a senior Sudanese official.

Abbas Kamel, the director of Egypt’s Intelligence Directorate Agency, conveyed Western concerns in talks in Khartoum last month with the head of Sudan’s ruling sovereign council, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, the official said. Mr. Kamel urged Burhan to find a way to address Wagner’s “use of Sudan as a base” for operations in neighbouring countries such as the Central African Republic, the official said.

Wagner started operating in Sudan in 2017, providing military training to intelligence and special forces, and to the paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), according to Sudanese officials and documents shared with The Associated Press.

The RSF, which grew out of the feared Janjaweed militias, is led by powerful general Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, who has close ties with the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Mohammed Hamdan has been sending troops to fight alongside the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen’s long-running civil war.

Wagner mercenaries are not operating in a combat role in Sudan, officials said. The group, which has dozens of operatives in the country, provides military and intelligence training, as well as surveillance and protection of sites and top officials.

Sudanese military leaders appear to have given Wagner control of gold mines in return. The documents show that the group has received mining rights through front companies with ties to Sudan’s powerful military and the RSF. Its activities are centred in gold-rich areas controlled by the RSF in Darfur, Blue Nile and other provinces, according to officials.

Two companies have been sanctioned by the U.S. Department of Treasury for acting as fronts for Wagner’s mining activities — Meroe Gold, a Sudanese gold mining firm, and its owner, the Russian-based M Invest firm. Mr. Prigozhin owns or controls both, according to the Treasury. Despite sanctions, Meroe Gold is still operating across Sudan.

The Russian mercenaries helped the paramilitary force consolidate its influence not only in the country’s far-flung regions, but also in the capital of Khartoum, where it helps run pro-RSF social media pages.

The main camp of Wagner mercenaries is in the contested village of Am Dafok on the borders between the Central African Republic and Sudan, according to the Darfur Bar Association, a legal group that focusses on human rights. “Nobody can approach their areas,” said Gibreel Hassabu, a lawyer and member of the association.

LIBYA

In Libya, Mr. Burns held talks in Tripoli with Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, head of one of Libya’s two rival governments.

The CIA director also met with Hifter in eastern Libya, according to officials with Hifter’s forces. One official briefed on the meeting in al-Rajma military complex, the seat of Hifter’s command just outside Benghazi, said Wagner was the main issue discussed.

U.N. experts said Wagner mercenaries were deployed Libya since 2018, helping Hifter’s forces in their fight against Islamist militants in eastern Libya. The group was also involved in his failed offensive on Tripoli in April 2019.

The U.S. Africa Command, AFRICOM, estimated that some 2,000 Wagner mercenaries were in Libya between July-September 2020, before a cease-fire. The mercenaries were equipped with armoured vehicles, air-defence systems, fighter aircraft, and other equipment, which were supplied by Russia, according to the AFRICOM assessment. The report also said the Wagner group appeared to be receiving money from the UAE, a main foreign backer of Hifter.

Since the 2020 cease-fire, Wagner’s activities have centred around oil facilities in central Libya, and they have continued providing military training to Hifter forces, Libyan officials said. It is not clear how many Wagner mercenaries are still in Libya. American officials have demanded that mercenaries be pulled out of oil facilities, another Libyan official said.

Hifter did not offer any commitments, but asked for assurances that Turkey and the Libyan militias it backed in western Libya will not initiate an attack on his forces in the coastal city of Sirte and other areas in central Libya.

Egypt, which has close ties with Hifter, has demanded that Wagner not be stationed close to its borders. There is no evidence yet that the Joe Biden administration’s pressure has yielded results in either Sudan or Libya, observers said.

Catrina Doxsee, the expert, said the U.S. and allies should resist promoting narratives that “Russia is bad and what we have to offer is good” and instead focus on offering better alternatives to Wagner.”

“Ultimately, at the end of the day, Wagner is a business. If you can cut out the profit and you can reduce the business case for using Wagner, that’s what is going to make it a less appealing case,” she said.

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Live: Top diplomat Josep Borrell announces EU plan to train 30,000 Ukrainian soldiers

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European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell arrived in Kyiv with a delegation of EU leaders on Thursday. In an interview with FRANCE 24, Borrell said the EU plans to double the number of Ukrainian soldiers it is training to 30,000. Follow our live blog below for all the latest developments. All times are in Paris time (GMT+1). 

10:49am: Norway to raise spending from wealth fund to aid Ukriane, says PM 

Norway will increase the spending from its sovereign wealth fund in the coming years to fund military and civilian aid to Ukraine, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere told parliament on Thursday.

The Nordic country’s $1.3 trillion wealth fund, one of the world’s largest investors, has seen a sharp rise in revenue inflows as the price of Norwegian oil and gas exports soared following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The prime minister did not specify how much money Norway would spend on Ukraine aid, but said it would be a multi-year commitment. “This will lead to a temporary increase in spending from the sovereign wealth fund,” Stoere said. He added that the extra spending should not impact the Norwegian domestic economy, avoiding any impact on interest rates.

9:51am: Russia says it does not need help from ex-Soviet allies in Ukraine

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that Moscow does not any need help from its ex-Soviet allies for its military campaign in Ukraine.

Lavrov said Russia had everything it needed for the conflict, and had not asked members of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) – a Moscow-led alliance that includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan – to provide material support for what Russia calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine.

9:40am: Top diplomat Josep Borrell announces EU plan to train 30,000 Ukrainian soldiers

In an interview with FRANCE 24, the EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell said the EU plans to double the number of Ukrainian soldiers it is training to 30,000. 


 

9:09am: Russian FM Lavrov says ‘we want Ukraine conflict to end, but are responding to West’

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that Russian forces would respond to the delivery of longer-range Western weapons to Kyiv by trying to push Ukrainian forces further away from its borders to create a safe buffer zone.

In an interview on state TV, Lavrov said everybody wanted the conflict in Ukraine – which Moscow calls a “special military operation” – to end, but that the West’s support for Kyiv was playing an important role in how Russia approaches the campaign.

9:00am: Austria expels four Russian diplomats

Austria is expelling four Russian diplomats for behaving in a manner inconsistent with international agreements, a reason often invoked in spying cases, the Austrian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday without giving specifics.

Two of the four diplomats declared personae non gratae and ordered to leave the country by February 8 are stationed at the Russian Embassy to Austria while the other two work at the Russian mission to the United Nations in Vienna, the ministry said in a statement.

8:46am: EU chief arrives in Kyiv, says bloc ‘stands by Ukraine’

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said she had arrived in Kyiv with a team of commissioners on Thursday, a day before a Ukraine-European Union summit in the war-torn country.

“Good to be back in Kyiv, my 4th time since Russia’s invasion … We are here together to show that the EU stands by Ukraine as firmly as ever. And to deepen further our support and cooperation,” she wrote in a tweet.


8:37am: Frontline hotspot Bakhmut braces for Russian advance

Russian forces have been trying to seize control of Bakhmut in the eastern region of Donetsk for months in what has become the longest and bloodiest battle since Russia invaded Ukraine last February.

Despite the flow of Western weapons, Russia has in recent days claimed gains in the region.

The fight for Bakhmut has turned the town with a pre-war population of roughly 75,000 into a ghost town dotted with hedgehog anti-tank defences and burnt-out cars. There is no gas, no electricity, no running water. Around 7,000 people, many of them elderly, still live in the town despite the constant sound of artillery exchanges, gunfire and drones flying overhead.

7:53am: Ukraine targets oligarch, ex-minister in graft clampdown

Ukraine expanded a clampdown on corruption on Wednesday, launching coordinated searches of residences linked to a divisive oligarch and former interior minister as well as tax offices in the capital.

FRANCE 24’s Andrew Hilliar, reporting from Kyiv, discusses the searches in the video below. 


 

The searches came ahead of a key summit with the EU and appeared to be part of a push by Kyiv to reassure military and financial donors in European capitals and Washington that Ukraine is tackling systemic graft.

The searches have targeted influential billionaire Igor Kolomoisky and former interior minister Arsen Avakov, said the head of Zelensky’s party, David Arakhamia. Law enforcement also raided tax offices in the capital and senior customs officials were fired.

FRANCE 24’s Fraser Jackson takes a closer look at Ukraine’s bid to stamp out corruption in the video below.


 

5:00am: Top EU officials gather in Ukraine 

More than a dozen top European Union officials arrive in Kyiv on Thursday with promises of more military, financial and political aid, a symbolic trip meant to highlight support for Ukraine.

But the EU is set to dash Ukraine’s hopes of being swiftly allowed membership, stressing the need for more anti-corruption measures and unwilling to admit a country at war, the biggest armed conflict in Europe since World War II.

“It is a very strong signal that we are in Kyiv during the war. It’s a signal to the Ukrainian people. It’s a signal to Russia. It’s a signal to the world,” said a senior EU official.

Top members of the EU‘s executive European Commission will meet their counterparts in the Ukrainian government on Thursday. The head of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and president of the EU Council Charles Michel will meet President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday.

4:51am: Russians mark anniversary of Stalingrad victory 

President Vladimir Putin is set to preside Thursday over commemorations to mark the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory at the Battle of Stalingrad, one of the bloodiest in World War II.

The high-profile celebrations in the southern city of Volgograd come as the Kremlin is drumming up support for its offensive in Ukraine, launched nearly a year ago to “de-Nazify” Ukraine, whose soldiers fought alongside Russia against Nazi Germany.

Putin is expected to travel to Volgograd, formerly known as Stalingrad, to take part in a wreath-laying ceremony at a war memorial and speak at a concert, the Kremlin said. 

The battle of Stalingrad lasted more than six months, ending with the surrender of German troops on February 2, 1943, after more than a million people were killed.

>> Read more: ‘They would have preferred hell’: The Battle of Stalingrad, 80 years on

1:33am: Strike on residential building in Ukraine’s Kramatorsk leaves at least 3 dead

Ukrainian authorities said Wednesday that at least three people were killed when a Russian rocket struck a residential building in the eastern city of Kramatorsk.


 

“Two hours ago, the Russian occupiers hit a residential building in the centre of the city with a rocket,” said regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko. 

“Two hours ago, the Russian occupiers hit a residential building in the centre of the city with a rocket and completely destroyed it,” regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on the Telegram messaging app.

The regional police said on their official website that it was “preliminarily known that there are three dead civilians and 20 wounded”. 

 

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Live: Ukraine raids tycoon’s home, tax office in corruption clampdown

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Ukrainian authorities raided an influential billionaire’s home on Wednesday in what an ally of President Volodymyr Zelensky touted as a sweeping wartime clampdown on corruption that would change the country.  Follow FRANCE 24’s liveblog for all the latest developments. All times are in Paris time (GMT+1).

5:17pm: Ukraine hails French gift of radar as ‘cherry on the cake’

Ukraine‘s defence minister said Wednesday that Ukrainian lives will be saved by a sophisticated air-defence radar that France is supplying and which is powerful enough to spot incoming missiles and exploding drones in the skies over all of Ukraine’s capital and its surrounding region.

The minister, Oleksii Reznikov, was so enthusiastic about what he called Ukraine’s new “electronic eyes” that he quickly coined a nickname for the Ground Master 200 radar – the “Grand Master.”

Speaking through an interpreter at a handover ceremony for the radar with his French counterpart, Reznikov described the French-made GM200 as a “very effective” improvement for Ukraine’s network of about 300 different types of air-defence radars.

5pm: Moscow warns Israel against supplying arms to Ukraine

Russia on Wednesday warned Israel against supplying weapons to Ukraine after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was considering military aid for Kyiv and was willing to mediate in the conflict.

“We say that all countries that supply weapons (to Ukraine) should understand that we will consider these (weapons) to be legitimate targets for Russia’s armed forces,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters.

Since the beginning of the Russian offensive in Ukraine in February last year, Israel has adopted a cautious position towards Moscow, seeking to maintain neutrality

4:48pm: Ukraine has enough gas for winter, minister says

Ukraine has sufficient gas reserves to see it through the winter with 11 billion cubic metres (bcm) in storage as of February 1, the energy minister said on Wednesday.

The country also has about 1.2 million tonnes of coal for its power plants, German Galushchenko said in a statement.

>> Can US shale gas save Europe from its energy crisis?

“These are sufficient volumes to get through and complete this very difficult heating season for our country,” the minister said

3:32pm: Russia calls Macron’s comments on Ukraine arms ‘absurd’

Russia on Wednesday criticised comments by French President Emmanuel Macron, who refused this week to rule out delivering fighter jets to Ukraine but also warned against the risk of escalation.

“Forgive me but this is absurd. Is the president of France really certain that if arms, heavy weapons and aircraft are supplied to the Kyiv regime to conduct combat operations, this will not lead to an escalation of the situation?” foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters

3:09pm: Russia unveils Stalin bust ahead of WWII commemorations

A bust of dictator Joseph Stalin was unveiled in the southern Russian city of Volgograd on Wednesday on the eve of commemorations of the Soviet victory in the Battle of Stalingrad.

The bronze bust was unveiled ahead of President Vladimir Putin‘s visit to Volgograd, formerly known as Stalingrad, on Thursday, for high-profile celebrations that will include a military parade.

Most monuments to Stalin, who presided over purges known as the Great Terror, have been taken down in countries that were once part of the Soviet Union.

1:16pm: Ukraine has gas stocks to see it through the winter, says energy minister

Ukraine has sufficient gas reserves to see it through the winter with some 11 billion cubic metres (bcm) in storage as of February 1, the energy minister said on Wednesday.

The country also has around 1.2 million tonnes of coal for its power plants, German Galushchenko said in a statement. “These are sufficient volumes to get through and complete this very difficult heating season for our country,” the minister said.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said last month the situation in the energy sector remained difficult but under control after a months-long Russian campaign of drone and missile strikes on critical infrastructure that damaged about 40% of the energy system.

1:14pm: Top Ukrainian official confirms raids on homes of billionaire, ex-minister in graft clampdown

A top governing party official confirmed on Wednesday that security officials had raided the homes of one of Ukraine’s richest men and a former interior minister, and said the country would change during the war with Russia.

David Arakhamia, head of the Servant of the People party’s parliamentary faction, said there were also searches at Ukraine’s Tax Office and that the management team of the Customs Service would be dismissed.

“The country will change during the war. If someone is not ready for change, then the state itself will come and help them change,” he wrote on the Telegram messaging in app.

11:14am: Belarus says Russian Iskander missiles now in service

Belarus said on Wednesday that it had taken Russian Iskander ballistic missile systems into service after its operators had received training in Russia.

The missiles are capable of hitting targets at a range of up to 500 km (310 miles), Minsk’s defence ministry said.

“Having completed the theoretical course, the artillerymen carried out practical training at the Belarusian firing ranges,” it added.

10:58am: US has ‘destroyed basis’ for New START arms control treaty, says Kremlin 

Russia said on Wednesday that the United States had destroyed the legal basis for the New START arms control treaty between the two countries, but that the agreement remained “very important” for Russia, regardless of the present situation.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was responding after the United States on Tuesday accused Russia of violating the treaty – the last major pillar of post-Cold War nuclear arms control between the two countries – by refusing to allow inspection activities on its territory.

10:53am: Zelensky aid says talks underway on longe-range missiles

A senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday talks were under way on securing longer-range missiles and attack aircraft from foreign partners to help repel Russian forces.

“Each war stage requires certain weapons. Amassing RF’s (Russia’s) reserves in the occupied territories require specifics from  (Ukraine) & partners,” political adviser Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on Twitter.


10:52am: Kremlin welcomes ‘bounty payments’ offer for destroying Western tanks in Ukraine

The Kremlin on Wednesday welcomed a Russian company’s offer of “bounty payments” for soldiers who destroy Western-made tanks on the battlefield in Ukraine, saying it would spur Russian forces to victory. The Russian company Fores this week offered 5 million roubles ($72,000) in cash to the first soldiers who destroy or capture US-made Abrams or German Leopard 2 tanks in Ukraine.

On Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian troops would “burn” any Western tanks that were delivered to Ukraine, adding the bounties were extra encouragement for Russian soldiers.

10:49am: Kremlin says any new longer-range rockets from US would escalate Ukraine conflict

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that longer-range rockets reportedly included in an upcoming package of military aid from the United States to Ukraine would “escalate” the conflict but not change its course.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also told reporters that there were no plans for Russian President Vladimir Putin to hold talks with US President Joe Biden.

The US package of military aid, worth $2.2 billion, is expected to include longer-range rockets for the first time, two US officials briefed on the matter said on Tuesday.

9:52am: Japan preparing to host online G7 summit to mark anniversary of Ukraine invasion

Japan is preparing to host a Group of Seven (G7) summit meeting online timed to mark the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Kyodo news agency reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed officials.

9:43am: Moscow-installed official says Russian forces encircling Bakhmut

Russian forces are encircling Bakhmut and are battling to take control of the highway that connects the city to the nearby town of Chasiv Yar, a Russian-installed official in eastern Ukraine said on Wednesday.

“Bakhmut is now operationally surrounded, our forces are closing the ring around the city,” said Yan Gagin, an aide to senior Russian-installed official Denis Pushilin. “Fighting for control of the Chasiv Yar-Bakhmut highway is now underway,” he said on state television.

FRANCE 24 could not independently verify these assertions.

Russia claims to have taken control of several locations around Bakhmut, where its troops and mercenaries from the Wagner group have been locked in a battle of attrition with Ukrainian forces for months.

9:33am: Russian journalist sentenced in absentia to 8 years in jail for ‘fake news’

Prominent Russian journalist Alexander Nevzorov was sentenced in absentia to eight years in jail by a Moscow court on Wednesday after it found him guilty of spreading ‘fake news’ about the Russian army, state media reported.

Investigators opened a case against Nevzorov last year for posts on social media in which he accused Russia‘s armed forces of deliberately shelling a maternity hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, an assertion Moscow said was false.

Nevzorov’s wife wrote on Instagram in March that she and her husband were in Israel.

8:33am: Spain to send Leopard 2A4 tanks to Ukraine: media

Spain plans to send between four and six Leopard 2A4 tanks to Ukraine, newspaper El Pais reported Wednesday, citing unidentified government sources.

The actual number will depend on the condition of the battle tanks in storage and how many other countries will eventually supply to Ukraine, the sources told El Pais.

A spokesperson for the Spanish defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Kyiv secured pledges from the West this month to supply main battle tanks to help fend off Russia’s invasion, with Moscow mounting huge efforts to make incremental advances in eastern Ukraine.

7:43am: Russia claims control of Blahodatne, near Bakhmut

“The latest reports suggest that Russian forces are making a fresh push on two villages, Vuhledar and Pavlivka, some 30km southwest of Donetsk city in eastern Ukraine. At the same time, the Russian defence ministry is claiming that its forces not far from there have captured the village of Blahodatne,” FRANCE 24’s Andrew Hilliar reports from Kyiv.

“We have not been able to independently verify those claims, but looking at the bigger picture, this could all be part of a new Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine.”


 

5:45am: Netanyahu considering military aid, mediation for Ukraine

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview aired Tuesday he was considering military aid to Ukraine and was willing to serve as a mediator, following US calls for more active involvement.

Netanyahu was asked in an interview with CNN if Israel could provide assistance to Ukraine such as Iron Dome, the US-backed technology that defends Israel from air attack. “Well, I’m certainly looking into it,” Netanyahu said.

He confirmed that the United States has shifted a little-known stockpile of artillery it stations in Israel to Ukraine and he cast the Jewish state’s own operations against Iran as part of a similar effort. “The US just took a huge chunk of Israel’s munitions and passed it on to Ukraine. Israel also, frankly, acts in ways that I will not itemise here against Iran’s weapons productions which are used against Ukraine,” he said.

He said he was willing to mediate if asked by the parties and the United States. “I’ve been around long enough to know that there has to be a right time and the right circumstances. If they arise, I’ll certainly consider it,” he said.

The remarks come after a visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who called for calm following a flare-up of violence between Israel and the Palestinians and also nudged Israel to boost support to Ukraine.

5:26am: US defence firm General Atomics offers to sell advanced drones to Ukraine for one dollar and shipping costs

The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that a US defense company, General Atomics, has offered to sell Kyiv two Reaper MQ-9 drones for a dollar as it prepares for an expected Russian offensive.

Under the deal, Kyiv would have to spend about $10 million to ship the aircraft to Ukraine, and about $8 million each year for maintenance, the Journal said, citing a letter from General Atomics to a Ukrainian diplomat.

There was no immediate comment on the report from Washington.

 

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Ukraine war: A month-by-month timeline of the conflict

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February: The invasion begins

Russia invades on 24 February, a day etched in the mind of every Ukrainian.

Fierce fighting erupts in northern Ukraine as tens of thousands of Russian troops try to take the Ukrainian capital and decapitate the country. Wagner mercenaries are reportedly redeployed from Africa to assassinate the Ukrainian president.

A defiant Zelenskyy films himself walking through the streets of Kyiv, delivering a clear and compelling message: “I am here. We will not lay down any weapons.”

The move by the former comedian-turned-politician instantly becomes a PR masterstroke, rallying ordinary Ukrainians and the world behind him.

The EU throws open its doors to hundreds of thousands of refugees pouring out of Ukraine, with neighbouring countries like Poland, Hungary and Romania heavily praised for their generosity. 

Some criticise the double standards shown by the bloc towards Ukrainians compared to those escaping violence in the Middle East or North Africa.

The United Nations overwhelmingly condemns Russia’s aggression and the West slaps sanctions on Moscow.

March: Horror in Bucha

Shockwaves from the Russian invasion reverberate around the world. 

Food and energy prices climb as attention turns to the wider impact of the war. There are pointed concerns about the cost of living in the west, while food security becomes a worry across huge swathes of the developing world. 

Russian forces encounter stubborn resistance around Kyiv and their advance starts to splutter and stall. Snaking convoys of tanks and military vehicles clog up roads, as military logistics and communications break down.

Some senior Russian commanders are killed trying to check on what is happening at the front.

Grizzly evidence of war crimes emerges as Russian forces pull back from areas around Kyiv. Hundreds of bodies of civilians are found in mass graves in Bucha. Many were bound and shot at close range, while others show signs of torture and rape.

But Russia’s push to capture the Ukrainian capital has failed – for now.

Russia begins cracking down on independent media and festering opposition to the war inside the country, with several local stations shut down and access to foreign media restricted.

April: A new phase of war

A Russian missile strike hits a train station in Kramatorsk on 8 April, killing at least 50 civilians — including women and children — and wounding more than 100. Most of them were trying to evacuate to safety, say Ukrainian officials.

This catastrophe kicks off Moscow’s pivot towards the east as it launches a new offensive to seize the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

A suspected Ukrainian missile sinks the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, the Moskva. It is a major blow to Moscow’s naval supremacy and military prestige. 

Parents start asking questions about the fate of their missing sons as authorities remain tight-lipped about casualties among the ship’s 500-strong crew.

Nearly two-thirds of Ukraine’s children are now displaced by war, says the UN.

May: NATO grows

Sweden and Finland unveil their bids to join NATO, although there is political opposition from Turkey and Hungary which will continue all year. 

The pair were closely aligned with NATO for decades, but not formally part of the organisation. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has cited NATO expansion as one of the main reasons for invading Ukraine, but it appears the invasion has had the opposite effect of strengthening the western military alliance.

Russia holds its yearly Victory Day Parade on 9 May to mark the USSR’s defeat of Nazism in the Second World War. 

In a rare glimpse of lighter news, Ukraine wins the Eurovision song contest, though Italian police reveal the event was targeted by Russian hackers.

Fighters in the Azovstal steel mill — the last pocket of Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol — finally hoist up the white flag. Holding out for several apocalyptic weeks in the sprawling Soviet industrial complex, their dogged struggle was watched closely by the world.

June: 100 days of war

100 days of war have now passed. Tens of thousands lay dead, millions more are uprooted from their homes and Ukraine’s historical and cultural sites are devastated by fighting.

Nike leaves Russia, becoming the latest in a string of western brands to exit the country over the war. Experts say these high-profile departures, along with international sanctions, are crippling the Russian economy. 

However, there are still debates about Russia’s economic resilience and whether sanctions are the right approach, with some claiming they unduly affect ordinary Russians and play into the government’s anti-western rhetoric. 

But Russia is not the only one struggling. A global food crisis is looming, with millions of tonnes of Ukrainian grain languishing in silos since the start of the war. 

Up to 181 million people in 41 countries could face acute food insecurity and outright famine, UN projections show.

Ukrainian forces recapture Snake Island, a tiny islet off the coast of southern Ukraine in the Black Sea.

July: Russian advances in the east

The last city in the eastern Luhansk region falls to the grinding Russian invasion. Ukraine’s embattled forces focus on defending Donetsk, the second part of the prized Donbas. 

The Donbas, a heavily industrialised region in eastern Ukraine, has become the site of the biggest battle in Europe in generations.

Inflation reaches record highs in the Eurozone, with the euro and the dollar reaching parity (1 EUR = 1 USD).

Russia begins to periodically shut down the Nord Stream gas pipelines in a bid to ratchet up pressure on Europe. European leaders are spooked, teetering on the edge of an energy precipice ahead of winter.

Ukraine and Russia agree to a landmark deal allowing Ukrainian grain to be exported across the Black Sea. It is a major breakthrough aimed at easing the global food crisis — one that brings a moment of reprieve to millions.

HIMARS missiles from the US begin hitting Russian ammo depots, logistics and command and control systems.

August: Gas exports to Europe stop

Amnesty International publishes a report that accuses Ukraine of riding roughshod with civilian life by placing its military in residential areas. Kyiv acts with outrage, while others maintain its armed forces are not above scrutiny, even if the country is under attack. 

Powerful explosions rock an airbase in the Russian-occupied Crimea peninsula.

No side says what they think is behind the string of blasts, which destroy several Russian planes and damage more than 80 buildings. But Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov suggests that Russia’s “military guys” had failed to observe a “very simple” rule: “Don’t smoke in dangerous places”.

Ukraine and Russia have been flirting with catastrophe at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine for months. But now UN chief Antonio Guterres says the pair should stop their “suicidal attacks” on the nuclear plant, saying both sides should end fighting there. 

A suspected car bomb goes off in Moscow killing TV commentator Daria Dugina, though observers think her father Aleksandr Dugin – dubbed ‘Putin’s brain’ – may have been the intended target.

All gas exports to Europe are halted on 31 August, with Russia’s state-owned energy giant Gazprom citing maintenance work on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. Prices surge immediately. 

September: Mobilisation

Ukraine launches a rapid counter-offensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region, sending Russian units into retreat. 

Zelenskyy raises the Ukrainian flag in the war-scarred city of Izium on 10 September. Occupied by Russia for six months, it is a big strategic win for Kyiv. 

Putin announces a “partial mobilisation” of 300,000 troops to fight in Ukraine, triggering a mass flight of Russians escaping conscription into neighbouring Georgia and Kazakhstan.

The US claims “hundreds of thousands” of Ukrainian citizens are being forcibly deported to Russia in a “series of horrors”.

Almost 1,200 protestors are arrested in cities across Russia after the call-up, as the authority’s vice-like grip on anti-war dissent tightens. Many of these demonstrations are in areas populated by Russia’s ethnic minorities, who claim they are disproportionately targeted by the draft. 

Russia officially annexes Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia on 30 September. In a move branded illegal under international law, Putin says the annexed regions will be part of Russia “forever”.

October: Sabotage

A large explosion tears through a bridge linking Russia and Crimea, which serves as a major supply route for Moscow’s forces fighting in Ukraine. It happens one day after Putin’s birthday.

Kyiv does not take responsibility for the blast, though Russia points to “Ukrainian terror”. Russia’s prestige in the region is dealt a stinging blow.

Russia begins bombing Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, knocking out power and heating ahead of winter. Military analysts tell Euronews this is a “strategy of escalation” intended to “break the national morale”.

The war in Ukraine and rising inflation plunge an additional four million children into poverty, according to an October report by UNICEF. A large proportion of them — 2.8 million — are Russian.

November: Kherson liberated

Ukrainian troops pour into Kherson on 11 November.

The southern port city, once home to 250,000 people, was one of the first to fall to Russian forces, during the early days of the war. There are jubilant scenes across Ukraine, though officials warn of an unfolding humanitarian disaster in the bombed-out ruins.

Poland is put on high alert after a blast near the Ukrainian border kills two. It turns out the deadly explosion was caused by a Ukrainian air defence missile.  

Inflation in Europe eases but it is still in painful double digits, hitting 10% in November. Russia is hoping surging consumer prices and new waves of Ukrainian refugees will erode European leaders’ resolve. 

NATO promises to admit Ukraine into the western alliance, though there are considerable doubts over when Kyiv will be allowed to join. 

December: Grim warnings for spring

Zelenskyy heads to the US — his first state visit outside the country since the start of the war.

Saying that Ukraine will “never be alone”, US President Joe Biden promises to send Patriot air defence systems to help Ukraine stave off Russian attacks on its energy infrastructure.

The US had been reluctant to supply this long-range weapon to Ukraine over fears of inflaming tensions with Russia. Moscow warns Washington over sending more weapons to Kyiv.

Ukrainian authorities raise fears that Russia may try to take Kyiv again in the New Year, after its abortive offensive at the start of the war. 

On Christmas Day, Putin claims Russia is “ready to negotiate” with Ukraine – a demand ruled out by leaders in Ukraine. The Russian president publicly uses the word “war” to refer to his country’s invasion for the first time.

January 2023: Tanks, tanks, tanks

Amid mounting political pressure, Germany finally agrees to supply Ukraine with Leopard 2 battle tanks, paving the way for the US and other NATO allies to follow suit.

Some hailed the move as a significant boost to Kyiv’s war effort -– which could enable fresh offensives -– though others questioned if the number of tanks was enough and whether Ukraine would be able to use them effectively on the battlefield.

Russia slammed it as a “blatant provocation”.

Almost as soon as the tank deliveries got the green light, Kyiv began asking for fighter jets -– something Scholz flatly ruled out.

After months of gritty fighting, Ukraine admits withdrawing from the eastern town of Soledar, reversing Russia’s military fortunes. 

Moscow has portrayed the fight as key to seizing the strategic town of Bakhmut and the prized Donbas region. But the importance of the salt-mining town is debated.

Russia and Belarus begin joint drills, sparking fears that Moscow could use its ally to launch a fresh ground offensive in spring.

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Live: US designates Russia’s Wagner Group as criminal organisation

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The US on Thursday formally designated Russian private military company the Wagner Group as a transnational criminal organisation, freezing its US assets due to its role supporting Russia’s military in its war of aggression against Ukraine. This comes after French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna arrived in Odesa on Ukraine’s Black Sea coast, shortly after missile strikes hit crucial power infrastructure facilities in the surrounding region and caused blackouts in the city. Follow our live blog for the latest updates on the war in Ukraine. All times are Paris time (GMT+1).

4:23pm: US designates Wagner Group as criminal organisation

The US on Thursday formally designated Russian private military company the Wagner Group as a transnational criminal organisation, freezing its US assets for helping Russia’s military in the Ukraine war.

Last month the White House said the Wagner Group had taken delivery of an arms shipment from North Korea to help bolster Russian forces in Ukraine, in a sign of the group’s expanding role in that conflict

3:19pm: Training likely to be a big challenge as West sends Ukraine tanks

As the US said it will send Abrams tanks to Ukraine in a major policy reversal after the UK broke the dam last week by saying it will send Challengers, Rob Thornton, a lecturer in the defence studies department at King’s College London, told FRANCE 24 that “we need to be a bit careful”.

“You can supply several dozen tanks – will it make a big difference on the battlefield. And it’s one thing supplying these tanks; it’s another thing training the crews to operate these tanks. These are very much more sophisticated than the old Soviet tanks that are used by both the Russians and the Ukrainians at the moment. It will take a lot of training to match up, to marry up, the high-tech and modern tanks that are being supplied with the ability of their crews to use them to the greatest effect.” As well as the training question, there will be “other problems”. In particular, the “maintenance of these tanks is something the Ukrainians will have to very much get used to”, Thornton said.


 

2:51pm: Russia bans Meduza news site in latest media crackdown

Russian authorities designated the independent news outlet Meduza an “undesirable organisation” on Thursday, effectively outlawing the site from operating in Russia and banning any Russian from cooperating with Meduza or its journalists.

The designation is the latest in a years-long campaign by the Kremlin to curb independent media and stop their reporting from reaching ordinary Russians in a crackdown that has escalated since Russia invaded Ukraine last year.

In a statement announcing the decision, Russia’s General Prosecutor said the Latvia-based news outlet “poses a threat to the foundations of the constitutional system and the security of the Russian Federation”

2:42pm: ‘Two brigades of tanks’ for Ukraine army?

“There’s no doubt that with the decision […] of the United States to send its M1 Abrams tanks, a Rubicon has been passed here, and that momentum will now start to pick up,” said FRANCE 24 Chief Foreign Editor Robert Parsons.

“That’s certainly what the Ukrainians are hoping for, and last night Volodymyr Zelensky the Ukrainian president made that point in particular, when he was saying that ‘the key issue for us now is numbers’ and delivery time. They want those tanks as quickly as possible and they want them in as large numbers as possible,” Parsons continued. “They’re talking about 300; that’s what they believe they need if they’re going to stave off a Russian attack and then launch their own counter-attack against the Russians and break through and perhaps by the end of this year regain much of the territory that has been lost to the Russians over the last year.”

Given the number of countries now lining up to send tanks, “you could possibly envisage in pretty quick time two brigades of tanks being formed; that’s about 100 tanks”, Parsons noted. “That would suit the Ukrainians pretty well at this stage, but […] the Ukrainians are looking beyond this now. They’re talking about fighter jets. And although [German Chancellor Olaf] Scholz said yesterday that’s not something that Germany would do, other NATO members are talking about the possibility.”


 

2:33pm: Ukraine’s wheat, corn crops shrink again as farmers struggle

Ukraine‘s corn and wheat production is set to fall for a second year in 2023, with corn output not expected to exceed 18 million tonnes and wheat production 16 million tonnes as farmers reduce planting due to the war, a grain sector group said on Thursday.

The projections were a best case scenario, and production could fall more sharply depending on weather and financial difficulties of farms, Ukraine Grain Association (UGA) head Nikolay Gorbachov told Reuters on the sidelines of Argus Media’s Paris Grain Conference.

Disruption to export trade following Russia’s invasion last year has left many farmers producing at a loss, he said.

“For farmers it became unprofitable to produce the grain and that’s why they cut the planted area,” he added.

2:28pm: Neither France nor allies at war with Russia, French foreign ministry underlines

Neither France nor its allies are fighting a war against Russia, the French foreign ministry said Thursday, following a Western decision to send heavy tanks to Ukraine to repel the Russian invasion.

“We are not at war with Russia and none of our partners are,” ministry spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre said, after comments from German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock that “we are fighting a war against Russia and not against each other”.

2:18pm: French Leclerc tanks ‘not on the cards’ for Ukraine

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna’s visit to Odesa is a “highly symbolic” visit that was “hailed” by Ukraine’s foreign minister as “something courageous, something brave”, FRANCE 24’s Emmanuelle Chaze reported from Kyiv.

Colonna is in Odesa to “discuss the specific needs of the Ukrainian army when it comes to heavy weaponry”, Chaze continued. A “diplomatic source did address the question of whether or not Ukraine will get Leclerc tanks” from France – however, “apparently this is not on the cards because from the get-go, Ukraine was more keen to get Leopard tanks and maybe it would be too much of a hassle for Ukraine to have different kinds of tanks”.

A man walks next to the Opera Theatre building in the city centre, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine January 25, 2023.
A man walks next to the Opera Theatre building in the city centre, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine January 25, 2023. © Serhii Smolientsev, Reuters

 

12:28pm: Ukraine army says it downed 47 out of 55 Russian missiles, including 20 near Kyiv

The Ukrainian army said Thursday it had shot down 47 out of 55 missiles launched by Russia in a massive new wave of attacks.

The head of Ukraine’s army, Valery Zaluzhny, said Russia launched 55 air and sea-based missiles. “Ukraine’s armed forces destroyed 47 cruise missiles, 20 of them in the area of the capital,” he added on Telegram.

11:42am: French FM Colonna visits Odesa as it comes under Russian fire

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna on Thursday arrived in Ukrainian city Odesa in a visit aimed at underscoring France’s support for Ukraine against the Russian invasion.

She was there “to show France’s support for Ukraine’s sovereignty, now as before,” Colonna wrote on Twitter alongside a picture of herself in front of a city landmark.

Although delayed by a new wave of Russian strikes overnight and on Thursday morning, Colonna was still set to meet her Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba in the historic Black Sea port.

11:02am: Germany says to start talks with defence industry to speed up procurement

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said on Thursday he would kick off talks with the defence industry as early as next week to speed up arms procurement and ramp up ammunitions supplies.

“My primary task now is to enter into talks with the defence industry with the aim of significantly shortening procurement times,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a military exercise in Altengrabow in eastern Germany.

“If you look at ammunition, there is also the issue of quantity. This is another topic that I will raise in my talks with the defence industry, likely as early as next week if the schedule permits it,” he added.

10:40am: Western tank deliveries ‘direct involvement’ in Ukraine conflict, Moscow says

The Kremlin said Thursday that a decision by Western countries to supply Ukraine with modern tanks meant that they were party to the conflict, after Berlin and Washington approved the weapons for Kyiv.

“European capitals and Washington constantly give statements that sending various types of weapons, including tanks, in no way means their involvement in hostilities. We strongly disagree with this. In Moscow, this is perceived as direct involvement in the conflict and we see that this is growing,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

10:25am: Power cuts in Ukraine after Russian air strikes, operator says

Ukraine on Thursday enforced emergency power cuts in Kyiv and several other regions to relieve pressure on the electricity grid following Russian strikes, an operator said.

“Due to the threat of a missile attack in Kyiv and the regions of Kyiv, Odesa and Dnipropetrovsk emergency blackouts have been introduced,” said DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private power producer.

Ukrainian authorities earlier on Thursday reported Russian hits on energy facilities.

10:03am: Kyiv’s mayor says one dead, two injured in Russian missile attack

The mayor of Ukraine’s capital Kyiv said one person had been killed and two more were wounded on Thursday after Russia launched more than a dozen missiles in its latest large-scale aerial offensive.

“As a result of a rocket hitting a non-residential building in the Golosiivsky district, there is information that one person is dead and two wounded,” Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a statement on social media. The Kyiv city military administration said the death was due to parts of a missile falling.

9:50am: Two energy facilities struck in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region, local official says

Authorities in Ukraine‘s southern region of Odesa said Thursday that two energy facilities were hit by Russian missiles, in the latest attack by Moscow’s forces against critical infrastructure.

“There is already information about damage done to two critical energy infrastructure facilities in Odesa. There are no injured. Air Defence Forces are working over the Odesa region,” the head of the region’s military administration, Yuriy Kruk, said on social media.

9:25am: Kyiv mayor reports ‘explosion’, Ukraine downs 15 missiles

Ukraine said Thursday it had shot down more than a dozen Russian missiles launched towards Kyiv, while the capital’s major reported an explosion in the city.

“The enemy launched more than 15 cruise missiles in the direction of Kyiv. Thanks to the excellent work of air defence, all air targets were shot down,” said Sergiy Popko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, while mayor Vitali Klitschko said: “Explosion in Kyiv! Stay in shelters!”

9:05am: Russia fires ‘more than 30 missiles’ at Ukraine during rush hour, Kyiv says

Ukraine said Thursday that Russian forces had fired more than 30 missiles at targets across the country, in the latest wave of attacks that have put pressure on Ukraine’s air defence systems.

“We expect more than 30 missiles, which have already started to appear in various territories. Air defence systems are working,” Yuriy Ignat, a Ukrainian military spokesman, told local media.

The wave of missiles was launched during rush hour on Thursday morning and Ukrainians took cover in shelters as air defence forces shot down incoming salvos, officials said. An air raid alert wailed across the country as people were heading to work. In the capital Kyiv, crowds of people sheltered in underground metro stations, with some sitting on blankets or small plastic chairs.

A Reuters reporter heard the sound of a missile flying overhead at a low altitude, about 30 km from Kyiv. “As many as six Tu-95 (warplanes) have preliminarily taken off from Murmansk region and launched missiles,” air force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said on national television.

7:53am: Air raid sirens heard across Ukraine as authorities report missile attacks

Ukraine declared an air raid alert over the whole country on Thursday, and senior officials said air defences units were shooting down incoming Russian missiles.

Two missiles were spotted over the territory of the Mykolaiv region, its governor, Vitaly Kim, said on the Telegram messaging app. “Missiles are flying inside the territory of Ukraine. At least two northwest through Mykolaiv region,” he said. Officials told the public to take shelter.

“The first Russian missiles have been shot down,” Andriy Yermak, head of the president’s office said.

Russia has targeted critical infrastructure with missile and drone strikes since October, causing sweeping blackouts and other outages during winter.

7:14am: Ukraine declares air raid alert over most of country, authorities warn of possible missile attack

Ukraine declared an air raid alert over most of the country on Thursday, and regional authorities warned of a possible missile attack.

The DTEK electricity company said it was performing emergency shutdowns of electro power in the capital Kyiv, the rest of the Kyiv region, and also the regions of Odesa and Dnipropetrovsk due to a danger of missile attack.

6:47am: Ukrainian military says it destroyed 24 Russian drones overnight, warns of more attacks

Russian forces launched an unsuccessful overnight drone attack on Ukraine on Thursday, mainly targeting central regions and the capital Kyiv, the Ukrainian military said.

Anti-aircraft defences downed all 24 drones, country’s military command said in a morning report.

“There’s a major danger of further aviation and missile attack across the entire territory (of Ukraine),” it said in a statement.

Kyiv’s regional administration said that 15 out of 24 drones have been downed around the Ukrainian capital and that there were no damages. It also warned people about the possibility of more missile attacks during the day.

3:40am: Ukraine’s Zelensky urges UN action on deportations

President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged a senior UN official to help find a way to resolve what Ukrainian authorities decry as a serious consequence of 11 months of war – the deportation to Russia of thousands of adults and children.

Ukraine has for months denounced reports of mass deportations to Russia, often to remote regions thousands of kilometres from Ukraine. Russia denies any suggestion of mistreatment or criminal intent, describing the mass movements as evacuations.

“The discussion focused above all on our people that the occupiers have deported to Russia,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address, referring to talks with UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi earlier on Wednesday. “These are adults, these are our children. A mechanism is needed to protect and bring back people and to bring to account all those who are guilty of deportations. I am certain the UN institutions can show leadership in resolving this issue.”

>> Mother Russia: Maria Lvova-Belova, the Putin ally deporting Ukrainian children

 

© France Médias Monde graphic studio

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)

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Will THIS GUY Expose Hillary’s FBI Conspiracy To Steal Election From Herself To Frame Trump For Russia Stuff?

Post By Politics , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Here’s an interesting story to know about, against the backdrop of new House Barely Speaker Kevin McCarthy caterwauling about how Adam Schiff LIEEEEED TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE about Donald Trump’s collusion with Russia and TREEEEASON PARAPHRASED Trump’s very perfect call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, back in more innocent days when Trump was just extorting Ukraine to help him steal the 2020 election in exchange for protection from Russia.

Goddamn, that impeachment seems so much simpler to explain these days, don’t it?

The former top intelligence guy for the FBI’s New York field office, Charles McGonigal, has just been charged in federal courts in both DC and Manhattan with a number of very interesting crimes. For example, after he left the FBI, secretly working for Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska investigating a rival oligarch, and also working on Deripaska’s behalf to get him off the US sanctions list, itself a violation of the sanctions. Also hiding $225,000 in other bribes from a different dude while he was working at the FBI.

So that’s weird, yeah?

Charles McGonigal, 54, who retired from the FBI in September 2018, was indicted in federal court in Manhattan on charges of money laundering, violating U.S. sanctions and other counts stemming from his alleged ties to Deripaska, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. In his role at the FBI, McGonigal had been tasked with investigating Deripaska, whose own indictment on sanctions-violation charges was unsealed in September.

A second indictment, filed in Washington, accused McGonigal of hiding payments totaling $225,000 that he allegedly received from a New Jersey man employed decades ago by an Albanian intelligence agency. The indictment also accused him of acting to advance that person’s interests.

It seems bad for one of the former top intelligence guys at the FBI to be indicted for taking secret bribes and secretly working for the interests of one of Russia’s most powerful oligarchs, yeah? Especially one of the closest oligarchs to Vladimir Putin, Paul Manafort’s former boss, who was seemingly very close to the Russian operation to steal the 2016 election? Is that bad? Paul Manafort, of course, ran the Trump campaign, and pretty much every Russia report produced by the US government has concluded that he was integral to the NO COLLUSION!

Oh, and what was Manafort’s previous work for Deripaska? Propping up pro-Russian forces in Ukraine.

Trump Goon Paul Manafort Made $10 MILLION A YEAR To ‘Benefit Putin.’ Totally Normal!

It’s Manafort. It’s Always Been Manafort. And The Senate Intel Committee Seems To Agree!

NO COLLUSION! NO COLLUSION! You Know, Except For ALL THIS F*CKING COLLUSION!

Hey, Paul Manafort! Remember All That Shit You Pulled To Sell The World On The Ukrainian Dictator? Robert Mueller Remembers!

Most of the regular news reporting on this is extremely dry and weeds-y and virtually unreadable to anyone who isn’t obsessed with this stuff, but this excerpt about McGonigal, way down at the bottom of the Washington Post‘s article, is some extremely important context we will briefly explore:

McGonigal was an expert on Russian intelligence activities targeting the United States, as well as U.S. efforts to recruit Russian spies, said several former intelligence officials who worked with him and spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive matters.

His position at the New York field office would have given him direct access to past and current recruitment efforts, work that was coordinated with the CIA, these people said. McGonigal was well-known at the CIA among officers who dealt with Russia and counterintelligence matters, and he knew the details of some intelligence operations targeting Russia, former officials said.

McGonigal has not been charged with espionage, but the former officials who worked with him said his knowledge and experience would have put him at high risk of being recruited by a foreign government.

Rightwing weirdos are already pretty sure this guy — this guy! Not the last guy or the guy before that, this guy! — will be the key to unraveling the Deep State conspiracy where Hillary Clinton colluded with Russia and the FBI in order to steal the election from herself for the sole purpose of destroying the life and presidency of God-fearing patriot and humble servant Donald Trump. They are pointing to the fact that in 2016, he was head of Cybercrimes at the home office in DC, and was one of the first people who knew about allegations from Trump campaign idiot George Papadopoulos that the Russians had big dirt on Hillary that they were going to deploy against her.

Trump himself is raaaaaaaging over McGonigal’s arrest on Truth Social:

“The FBI guy after me for the Russia, Russia, Russia HOAX, long before my Election as President, was just arrested for taking money from Russia, Russia, Russia,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday. “May he Rot In Hell!”

Yeah OK, buddy, mash your meds up in some ketchup and swallow them.

What’s more interesting to us is what happened later in 2016, closer to the election.

As Heather Cox Richardson explains, October of 2016 was when then-FBI Director James Comey moved McGonigal into that position as head of counterintel at the New York field office. And what was happening in October of 2016, specifically regarding the New York FBI field office? That was the one that was as intent on skullfucking the Clinton campaign as Russia was, the one that seemed to be leaking fake bullshit about Clinton to Rudy Giuliani, who was babbling on the radio that the FBI was going to “revolt” if she wasn’t indicted.

Fox News was cumming itself at the time screaming that Hillary’s indictment was coming, apparently sourced from some dumb bucktoothed idiot types at the New York office who were furious Main Justice wouldn’t sanction their investigation into the Clinton Foundation, since it was based on debunked, Breitbart-funded bullshit from that dumb Clinton Cash book.

As Cox Richardson reminds us, when James Comey went before Congress in 2018, he said he was worried that if he didn’t blabber forth 11 DAYS BEFORE THE ELECTION about the “re-opening” of the Hillary emails investigation, after some “new” (not new) emails were found, that the New York office would leak it. And more:

Former acting attorney general Sally Yates was clearer. She told the inspector general that Comey and other FBI officials “felt confident that the New York Field Office would leak it and that it would come out regardless of whether he advised Congress or not.”

Yeah, so anyway!

Radicalized FBI Sleeper Cell Probably Led By Rudy Giuliani

James Comey Strikes Again (And Again And Again And Again)

Anthony Weiner’s Dick Explodes All Over Hillary Clinton’s Emails

Uh Oh, Did Adam Schiff Do TREASON COLLUSION With The Whistleblower’s Report? (No)

One more thing from Cox Richardson about what McGonigal did after his stint at the NY FBI office:

We also know that after McGonigal left the FBI, he went to work for Brookfield Properties, the multibillion-dollar real-estate company in New York that handled the bailout of Jared Kushner’s 666 Fifth Avenue by a $1.1 billion, 99-year lease—all paid up front—thanks to the Qatar Investment Authority.

And also went to work for Oleg Deripaska, which seems to tell us something about what kinda guy this dude is.

So yeah, huh! Weird stuff.

As she points out, these indictments aren’t about any of that stuff, but we kind of feel like — based on context clues — this guy might NOT end up being the guy who exposes the Deep State conspiracy where Hillary Clinton colluded with Russia and the FBI in order to steal the election from herself for the sole purpose of destroying the life and presidency of God-fearing patriot and humble servant Donald Trump.

We could be wrong.

Talking Points Memo has the indictments and much more on the charges related to the Albanian intelligence thingie, should you want to dive into the weeds.

Also here’s some MSNBC reporting on all this:

www.youtube.com

[Washington Post / Daily Beast / Heather Cox Richardson]

Follow Evan Hurst on Twitter right here!

And once that doesn’t exist, I’m also giving things a go at the Mastodon (@[email protected]) and at Post!

Have you heard that Wonkette DOES NOT EXIST without your donations? Please hear it now, and if you have ever enjoyed a Wonkette article, throw us some bucks, or better yet, SUBSCRIBE! Don’t use Paypal for your new monthly donations for the moment, though, we are having some long and boring ISSUES.

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Ukraine war: NATO chief asks allies for tanks and five other stories

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1. Deliver the tanks to Ukraine, NATO chief tells allies in Berlin

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg urged allies on Tuesday to speed up deliveries of heavy and more advanced weapons to repel Russian forces in Ukraine and expressed confidence that a decision on sending battle tanks to Kyiv would come soon.

Stoltenberg was speaking in Berlin alongside Germany’s new defence minister, Boris Pistorius, who said his government would act quickly on the tanks if a consensus were to be found.

Pressure has been building on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government to send its Leopard tanks to Ukraine and allow other countries to do the same — under military procurement rules, Germany must authorise any re-exports.

But Scholz’s Social Democrat party has been holding back, wary of sudden moves that could cause Moscow to escalate further.

Poland, which has accused Germany of dragging its heels on the tanks, said on Tuesday it had formally requested permission from Berlin to re-export its Leopard tanks to Ukraine.

“At this pivotal moment in the war, we must provide heavier and more advanced systems to Ukraine, and we must do it faster,” NATO’s Stoltenberg told reporters.

“I therefore welcome our discussion today. We discussed the issue of battle tanks. Consultations among allies will continue and I’m confident we will have a solution soon,” Stoltenberg added.

Pistorius said Germany was not standing in the way of other countries training Ukrainian troops to use the Leopard tanks while talks continued. He said it was wrong to say that “there’s disunity or that Germany is isolated”.

Scholz was trying to forge consensus on the tanks issue, he said, adding that NATO must not become party to the war in Ukraine.

Germany’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock had signalled a possible breakthrough on Sunday when she said her government would not stand in the way if Poland wanted to send its Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.

But on Tuesday, a German foreign ministry official appeared to temper those remarks by saying that Scholz would decide on sending the tanks.

2. Zelenskyy’s anti-corruption purge results in series of high-profile resignation

Several senior Ukrainian officials resigned on Tuesday in the biggest leadership shakeup of the war with Russia so far, in what an aide to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called an answer to public calls for “justice”.

Some, though not all, of the resignations were linked to corruption allegations. Ukraine has a history of graft and shaky governance and is under international pressure to show it can be a reliable steward of billions of euros in Western aid.

“There are already personnel decisions — some today, some tomorrow — regarding officials at various levels in ministries and other central government structures, as well as in the regions and in law enforcement,” Zelenskyy said in an overnight video address.

Zelenskyy aide Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted: “The president sees and hears society. And he directly responds to a key public demand – justice for all.”

Among those stepping down or fired on Tuesday morning were a deputy prosecutor general, a deputy defence minister and the deputy chief of staff in Zelenskyy’s own office.

The changes came two days after a deputy infrastructure minister was arrested and accused of siphoning off about €360,000 from contracts to buy generators, one of the first big corruption scandals to become public since the war began 11 months ago.

The Defence Ministry said Deputy Defence Minister Vyacheslav Shapovalov, responsible for supplying troops, had resigned on Tuesday morning as a “worthy deed” to retain trust after media accusations of corruption which he and the ministry rejected. 

It followed a newspaper report that the ministry overpaid for food for troops, which the ministry and its supplier both denied.

Though Zelenskyy did not name any officials in his address, he announced a ban on officials taking holidays abroad.

“Ignoring the war is a luxury no one can afford,” he said. “If they want to rest, they will rest outside the civil service.”

The changes are a rare shakeup of an otherwise notably stable wartime leadership in Kyiv. Apart from purging a spy agency in July, Zelenskyy had mostly stuck with his team.

Kyiv says a surge in patriotic feeling has dampened corruption since Russia’s invasion. But the head of Zelenskyy’s Sluga Narodu or Servant of the People party promised on Monday that officials would be arrested in a coming anti-corruption drive, which would resort to martial law if necessary.

3. Norway questioned fleeing Wagner mercenary over alleged war crimes, authorities say

Norwegian police have begun questioning a former commander of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group who recently fled to Norway about his time in Ukraine, police said on Tuesday.

Andrei Medvedev, who escaped from Russia by crossing the Russian-Norwegian border, has said he fears for his life after witnessing what he said was the killing and mistreatment of Russian prisoners brought to the front lines in Ukraine to fight for Wagner.

Kripos, Norway’s national criminal police service, which has responsibility for investigating war crimes, has begun questioning him about his experiences in Ukraine.

“Kripos can confirm that Andrei Medvedev has been questioned,” it said in an emailed statement to Reuters.

“We do not want to go into what he has explained in these interviews, but specify that he still has the status of a witness.”

Medvedev’s Norwegian lawyer, Brynjulf Risnes, was not immediately available for comment.

Kripos is part of the international effort to investigate war crimes in Ukraine conducted by the International Criminal Court.

“He has previously said that he was part of the Wagner group, and it is interesting for Kripos to get more information about this period,” Kripos added, declining to give further details.

On Monday, Medvedev was detained by immigration police due to “disagreement” about measures taken to ensure his safety.

4. Russia to amend law on exiting the country

Planned amendments of Russia’s transportation law will make it mandatory for people to book a time and place for any intended crossing of the border by car, the TASS news agency reported, raising the possibility of new restrictions on travel.

“The passage of vehicles … in order to cross the state border of the Russian Federation is carried out on a reserved date and time in accordance with the procedure established by the government,” the agency said later on Monday, citing a draft amendment it said was due to come into force on 1 March.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year, many Russian citizens and residents fled from the country, with the number growing significantly after the government declared the mobilisation of some 300,000 personnel for the military in September.

While precise totals are not available, the number of Russians who have left could run into hundreds of thousands, according to media reports and figures released by neighbouring countries.

The amendments to the law covering border crossings were prepared by the Committee on Transport and Infrastructure Development of the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, TASS reported.

It was not clear when the required readings of the draft amendments would take place.

5. Russia’s Ukraine war commander announces military reforms, blames the West

Russia’s new military reforms respond to possible NATO expansion and the use of Kyiv by the “collective West” to wage a hybrid war against Russia, the newly appointed general in charge of Russia’s war in Ukraine said.

Valery Gerasimov, in his first public comments since his 11 January appointment to the role, also admitted to problems with the mobilisation of troops after public criticism forced President Vladimir Putin to reprimand the military.

The military reforms, announced mid-January, have been approved by Putin and can be adjusted to respond to threats to Russia’s security, Gerasimov told the news website Argumenty i Fakty in remarks published late Monday.

“Today, such threats include the aspirations of the North Atlantic Alliance to expand to Finland and Sweden, as well as the use of Ukraine as a tool for waging a hybrid war against our country,” Gerasimov, who is also the chief of Russia’s military general staff, said.

Finland and Sweden applied last year to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation after Russia invaded Ukraine.

Under Moscow’s new military plan, an army corps will be added to Karelia in Russia’s north, which borders Finland.

The reforms also call for two additional military districts, Moscow and Leningrad, which existed before they were merged in 2010 to be part of the Western Military District.

In Ukraine, Russia will add three motorised rifle divisions as part of combined arms formations in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, parts of which Moscow claims it annexed in September.

“The main goal of this work is to ensure guaranteed protection of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country,” Gerasimov said.

Gerasimov added that modern Russia has never seen such “intensity of military hostilities”, forcing it to carry out offensive operations to stabilise the situation.

“Our country and its armed forces are today acting against the entire collective West,” Gerasimov said.

In the 11 months since invading Ukraine, Russia has been shifting its rhetoric on the war from an operation to “denazify” and “demilitarise” its neighbour to increasingly casting it as “defence” from “an aggressive West”.

The Kremlin has offered no concrete proof for its claims.

Gerasimov and the leadership of the defence ministry have faced sharp criticism for multiple setbacks on the battlefield and Moscow’s failure to secure victory in a campaign the Kremlin had expected to take just a short time.

The country mobilised some 300,000 additional personnel in the fall proceeded chaotically.

“The system of mobilisation training in our country was not fully adapted to the new modern economic relations,” Gerasimov said. “So I had to fix everything on the go.”

6. Kyiv doles out further sanctions against Russian Orthodox Church affiliates

Ukraine has imposed sanctions on 22 Russians associated with the Russian Orthodox Church for what President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said was their support of genocide under the cloak of religion.

According to a decree issued by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, the list includes Mikhail Gundayev, who represents the Russian Orthodox Church in the World Council of Churches and other international organizations in Geneva.

Russian state media reported that Gundayev is a nephew of the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill. Ukraine sanctioned Kirill last year.

The sanctions are the latest in a series of steps Ukraine has taken against the Russian Orthodox Church, which has backed President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine that is now entering its 12th month.

“Sanctions have been imposed against 22 Russian citizens who, under the guise of spirituality, support terror and genocidal policy,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly address late on Monday.

He said the punitive measures said that they would strengthen the country’s “spiritual independence”.

A majority of Ukrainians are Orthodox Christians and competition has been fierce between the branch of the church historically linked to Moscow and an independent church proclaimed after independence from Soviet rule in 1991.



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Russian offensive ‘gains ground’ and other developments

Post By World , , , ,

Russia claims it has gained ground in Ukraine

The Russian army said on Saturday it carried out “offensive operations” in the Zaporizhzhia region of southern Ukraine, enabling it to take “advantageous positions”.

“As a result of offensive operations, units of the Eastern Military District took more advantageous lines and positions,” the Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement. 

It did not give any further details.

Fighting in the Zaporizhzhia region intensified on Friday, as Russian forces claimed to capture a village in the region, just 50 kilometres from the local capital. 

The area is home to Europe’s largest nuclear power stations, with fighting there raising fears of a possible catastrophe. 

Yesterday, Ukraine’s energy minister said the situation at the plant was dire due to the phycological state of its Ukrainian staff and the condition of their equipment. 

Chechen fighters in Ukraine: Euronews report

A report by Euronews has looked at the Chechen fighters spilling blood on both sides of the Ukraine war. 

Those fighting alongside Ukrainian troops include Russian President Vladimir Putin’s oldest and fiercest enemies, veterans of the separatist wars in their homeland, alongside radical Islamists who have fought in Syria. 

Meanwhile, Russia has used Chechens loyal to the Kremlin to discipline and reportedly even execute dissenting soldiers, as well as intimidate civilians in Ukraine.

Chechnya is a restive part of southern Russia in the Caucus region. After the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, its primarily Muslim population tried to break away and establish their own state. This led to two horrific wars during the 90s, which ended in Moscow establishing control over Chechnya.

Chechens waging war for Russia in Ukraine today, say experts, are those who teamed up with Moscow to break the rebellion of their own people during the Second Chechen War from 1999 to 2009.

But Jean-Francois Ratelle, an Assistant Professor at the University of Ottawa, was sceptical about their significance on the battlefield, likening them to a disposable private army.

“These are not elite troops,” he said. “They were most likely used as a grunt force… It’s always easier for a Chechen to be killed in a war than an ethnic Russian.”

“They were treated like cannon fodder for a while”.

Read the full report:

Kyiv sour at wavering over tanks

Ukraine lamented the “indecision” of its Western allies on Saturday, after they refused its requests for heavy tanks. 

The hesitance will result in the deaths of more Ukrainians, claimed an Ukrainian presidential adviser.

“The indecision of these days kills even more of our fellow citizens”, tweeted Mykhaïlo Podoliak, urging Ukraine’s allies to “think faster”. 

“You will help Ukraine with the necessary weapons anyway and realise that there is no other option to end the war”, he pleaded.

Germany has been singled out in particular, following its decision to not deliver Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, a position slammed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as his country faces a renewed Russian offensive. 

In a rare public criticism, foreign ministers from the Baltic states asked Berlin “to supply Leopard tanks to Ukraine now” on Saturday. 

Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia claimed it was the “responsibility” of Germany as “Europe’s leading power”.

Zelenskyy said he regretted Germany’s cautious position on Friday evening, saying he was convinced that “there is no other solution” for its Western allies than to deliver tanks to its army.

During a meeting at the Ramstein airbase in Germany on Friday, the fifty or so countries represented did not agree on sending heavy tanks to Kyiv, despite its repeated requests for the heavy weaponry. 

Russia claims the heavy tanks would not change anything on the ground, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying the West was maintaining the “illusion” of a possible Ukrainian victory.

But many experts believe they would be a big advantage for Kyiv in eastern Ukraine, where Russia is back on the offensive after suffering heavy setbacks this autumn. 

US labels Wagner a criminal organisation

Washington designated the Wagner Russian paramilitary group as an international criminal organisation on Saturday, denouncing its abuses in Ukraine, purchase of North Korean weaponry and massive recruitment of prisoners.

“Wagner is a criminal organization that commits vast atrocities and human rights abuses,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

“The Wagner group currently has some 50,000 people deployed in Ukraine, including 10,000 mercenaries and 40,000 prisoners”, he said, adding its “recruitment methods” were causing “reservations” in the Russian Ministry of Defence. 

The announcement could led to sanctions against the mercenary force, which also operates in Africa. 

Wagner is led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a 61-year-old Russian businessman, who was once Putin’s chef. It has been very active in the fierce battle to take Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine.

“We will work tirelessly to identify, expose and target all who assist Wagner,” said Kirby. 

According to Washington, the group is growing in power and now rivals Russian forces.

“We have intelligence information that tensions between Wagner and the Department of Defence are escalating,” he said.

“Wagner is becoming a centre of power competing with the Russian army and other Russian ministries”, said the US official, claiming Prigozhin was “advancing” his own interests in Ukraine. 

“Wagner makes military decisions on the overall basis of what will generate favour for him… particularly in terms of publicity”, he added.

The Kremlin has denied that there are tension between the Russian army and the paramilitary group, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov calling the allegations “manipulation”.

Founded in 2014, the Wagner Group, founded in 2014, has recruited thousands of prisoners to fight in Ukraine in exchange for sentence reductions. 

Air defence drills in Moscow

Russia announced on Saturday that it had conducted air defence exercises around Moscow, saying they were to prepare for possible “air attacks” against its critical infrastructure. 

In a press release, the Russian Ministry of Defence said the exercises were to “repel air attacks against important military, industrial and administrative infrastructure.” 

Social media posts on Friday said air-defence systems were installed in several spots around the Russian capital, including on top of the country’s defence ministry. 

Russian officials did not initially comment on the reports, as weaponry resembling a Pantsir-S1 mobile anti-aircraft system was spotted on the roof of a building in central Moscow, some 2 kilometres east of the Kremlin. 

Reports earlier in the week said mobile surface-to-air missile batteries were seen near the sprawling Losiny Ostrov forest park on Moscow’s northern border and at another building in the capital.

Since Russia sent troops into Ukraine nearly 11 months ago, it has been hit with several drone strikes or attempted strikes deep inside its territory. 

In December, a drone strike killed three people at a military airfield some 600 kilometres from the Ukrainian border.

Explosive drones also struck the Russian Black Sea Fleet headquarters in Russia-annexed Crimea.

While the US and other NATO members have provided billions of dollars’ worth of military aid to Ukraine, Washington maintains it will not send weapons that could be used for attacks inside Russia.

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