US President Joe Biden said his country would remain with Ukraine "as long as it takes" during a surprise visit to Kyiv, just days ahead of the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Washington has expressed concern that China may be considering supplying weapons to Russia, with Beijing's top diplomat due to visit Moscow shortly. Read our live blog to see how all the day's events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+1).
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05:10am: China says certain countries must stop 'fuelling the fire' in Ukraine conflict
China is "deeply worried" that the Ukraine conflict could spiral out of control, China's foreign minister Qin Gang said on Tuesday, and called on certain countries to stop "fuelling the fire".
Beijing, which last year struck a "no limits" partnership with Moscow, has refrained from condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The United States has warned of consequences if China provides military support to Russia, which Beijing says it is not doing.
"We urge certain countries to immediately stop fuelling the fire," Qin said during a speech, referring to the Ukraine conflict and in comments that appeared to be directed at the United States.
"We stand firmly against any form of hegemony, against any foreign interference in China's affairs," he said.
Also on Tuesday, China released a paper on the Global Security Initiative (GSI), President Xi Jinping's flagship security proposal which aims to uphold the principle of "indivisible security", a concept endorsed by Russia.
10:10pm: Biden arrives in Poland after Kyiv visit
US President Joe Biden has arrived in Poland by train from Ukraine, the Polish news agency PAP reports.
Following a surprise visit to Kyiv, Biden arrived at the train station in Poland's southeastern city of Przemysl around 8:30pm local time (1930 GMT), PAP said.
8:25pm: Russian economy contracted by 2.1% in 2022
Russia's economy contracted 2.1% in 2022, the federal statistics service has said, compared with a 5.6% year-on-year rise in 2021, hurt by the fallout from Moscow's decision to send tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine last February.
Rosstat's first gross domestic product (GDP) estimate for 2022 was a marked improvement on forecasts made soon after the conflict began. The Economic Development Ministry had forecast in September a 2.9% contraction, and the Central Bank expected a drop of around 3% percent drop in gross domestic product (GDP) expected by the central bank.
The Economy Ministry at one point predicted that the economy would shrink more than 12% last year, exceeding the falls in output seen after the Soviet Union collapsed and during the 1998 financial crisis.
The data was published on the eve of a keenly awaited speech to parliament by President Vladimir Putin, days before the first anniversary of the launch of Russia's offensive against Ukraine on February 24.
7:15pm: Next EU sanctions package against Russia should be reached this week
EU members should approve the 10th package of sanctions against Russia this week, EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters on Monday.
"It is going to be approved in the next hours, in the next hours. Before the 24th (of February) in any case", he said.
The measures, which still require the unanimous approval of all EU states, would target four more Russian banks, imports from Russia, including rubber, and exports to Russia including heavy vehicles, among others.
6:35pm: China, Hungary ready to cooperate over ending Ukraine conflict
China and Hungary are ready to cooperate with "peace-loving nations" to end the Ukraine war, Beijing's top diplomat said Monday.
Wang Yi was speaking in Budapest amid tensions over US allegations that Beijing is considering arming Russia in its war against Ukraine. Beijing has rejected the accusations.
"China and Hungary are happy to work together with other peace-loving countries to end the current war as soon as possible," Wang Yi said, according to an official translation. "We would like the parties to return to the negotiating table," he added, reiterating a call for support for a Chinese proposal to end the war.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said he welcomed the Chinese position, which sought to "establish peace as soon as possible."
5:50pm: Biden visit 'a morale boost' for Ukrainians near eastern front line
President Joe Biden's unannounced trip to Kyiv has been warmly welcomed by Ukrainians in the country's war-torn east, says FRANCE 24's senior reporter Catherine Norris-Trent, speaking from the Donetsk region.
"The visit is a morale boost for people in towns and villages near the front line, who sometimes live through daily and nightly Russian bombardment," she said. "But they're also waiting to hear whether they will get any concrete announcements on more weapons."
3:45pm: China’s top diplomat due in Moscow, urges end to hostilities
China's top diplomat is due to visit Moscow shortly, and may possibly even meet President Vladimir Putin. A diplomatic source who spoke on condition of anonymity told Reuters earlier that Wang YI was expected in Moscow shortly and would discuss Chinese ideas for a political settlement of the Ukraine conflict as well as bilateral issues.
The United States says it is concerned Beijing may be considering supplying weapons to Russia, which would risk a potential escalation of the Ukraine war into a confrontation between Russia and China on the one side and Ukraine and the U.S.-led NATO military alliance on the other.
Wang suggested European countries "think calmly" about how to end the war and said Beijing would put forward "China's position on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis". Wang, speaking in Budapest on Monday, said China was ready to work with Hungary and other countries to bring hostilities to an end.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the planned visit by Wang to Moscow but gave no date for the trip. "We don't rule out a meeting between Mr Wang and the president (Putin)," Peskov told reporters. "The agenda is clear and very extensive, so there is lots to talk about."
3:08pm: US notified Russia about Biden’s visit to Ukraine 'hours before', White House aide says
The United States gave a heads up to Moscow "hours" ahead of President Joe Biden's surprise trip to Kyiv on Monday to avoid any chance of conflict, a senior White House aide said.
"We did notify the Russians that President Biden will be traveling to Kyiv. We did so some hours before his departure for deconfliction purposes," National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters. "Because of the sensitive nature of those communications, I won't get into how they responded or what the precise nature of our message was."
2:25pm: Russia says captured village of Paraskoviivka, on the northern outskirts of Bakhmut
Russia said Monday that its forces had taken control of a village near Bakhmut, the eastern Ukrainian city home to the longest-running battle of Moscow's offensive.
The defence ministry in Moscow said that volunteer fighters had "fully liberated" the settlement of Paraskoviivka with the support of regular forces, including paratroopers and artillery. The statement did not mention Russia's mercenary group Wagner which claimed to have captured village on Friday.
Paraskoviivka is a hamlet on the northern outskirts of Bakhmut.
2:15pm: Russian officials are denying ammunition to Wagner fighters, group founder Prigozhin says
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of Russia's mercenary group Wagner, accused unspecified officials of deliberately denying his fighters sufficient ammunition as part of an ongoing rivalry between himself and parts of the Russian elite.
In a seven-minute long audio message published on Monday by his press service, an apparently angry and emotional Prigozhin said he was required to "apologise and obey" in order to secure ammunition for his troops. Speaking at times with a raised voice and occasionally swearing, he said: "I'm unable to solve this problem despite all my connections and contacts."
Prigozhin said Russia's military production was now sufficient to supply the forces fighting at the front, and that the supply difficulties his fighters were experiencing were the result of conscious decisions. "Those who interfere with us trying to win this war are absolutely, directly working for the enemy", he said.
A onetime catering entrepreneur who once shunned the public spotlight, Prigozhin has assumed an ever more public role in Russian politics since the start of the war in Ukraine a year ago, with his Wagner Group spearheading Russia's months-long battle for the town of Bakhmut in Ukraine's Donetsk region. Since the outbreak of the conflict, Prigozhin has publicly feuded with generals and Kremlin officials, accusing them of insufficient zeal in prosecuting the campaign against Kyiv. He has reserved his harshest criticism for Russia's Defence Ministry, which he has accused of trying to take credit for Wagner's achievements on the battlefield.
1:56pm: Putin critic Navalny says Russia’s military defeat in Ukraine ‘inevitable’
Russia’s jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny said Moscow’s military defeat in Ukraine is “inevitable” even if the Kremlin sends more troops to the pro-Western country.
“The lives of tens of thousands of Russian soldiers have been senselessly ruined,” Navalny said in a statement released ahead of the first anniversary of Russia’s offensive in Ukraine.
“The final military defeat can be delayed at the cost of the lives of hundreds of thousands additional reservists, but on the whole it is inevitable,” he said.
1:22pm: If China supports Russia it will lead to world war, Zelensky warns
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned China in a newspaper interview on Monday against supporting Russia in its war on Ukraine, and said doing so would bring on a world war.
“For us, it is important that China does not support the Russian Federation in this war. In fact, I would like it to be on our side,” Zelenskiy told German daily Die Welt. “At the moment, however, I don’t think it’s possible.”
“But I do see an opportunity for China to make a pragmatic assessment of what is happening here,” he added. “Because if China allies itself with Russia, there will be a world war, and I do think that China is aware of that.”
1:19pm: Russian ship ‘mapped’ Dutch windparks, intelligence official says
A top Dutch intelligence official on Monday accused a Russian ship of trying to map Dutch wind parks in the North Sea with a view to disrupting the Netherlands’ electricity infrastructure.
“What we have seen in recent months is that Russian actors have been trying to understand how the energy supply in the North Sea is organised, with the intention of disrupting it,” Major-General Jan Swillens, head of military intelligence, told journalists. “The attempt was not successful,” he said, adding that “the ship was escorted by the Dutch coastguard and the navy”.
“The Netherlands must take into account that the war in Ukraine and its consequences will probably last for a long time,” Swillens added.
12:09pm: Japan PM pledges $5.5 billion in additional aid for Ukraine
Japan will offer Ukraine fresh financial support worth $5.5 billion, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Monday.
“There is still a need to assist people whose livelihoods have been destroyed by the war, and to restore destroyed infrastructure,” he said.
Kishida on Monday also announced that he would host an online meeting between Group of Seven leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday – a year to the day since Russia invaded.
“So the G7 leaders can remain united to deal with the invasion of Ukraine,” he said.
11:25am: ‘United States will remain with Ukraine as long as it takes,’ Biden says
During his surprise visit to Kyiv on Monday, US President Joe Biden said Washington would provide Ukraine with a new military aid package worth $500 million.
Biden, who said his country would “remain with Ukraine as long as it takes", said the package would be announced on Tuesday and that Washington would also provide more ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) in Ukraine’s possession.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Telegram that Biden’s visit was an “extremely important sign of support for all Ukrainians” and posted a photo of the two leaders shaking hands.
11:08am: US President Biden visits Kyiv
US President Joe Biden made an unannounced visit to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Monday, days before the first anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Biden met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Ukrainian capital, where an air raid siren blared but without any reports of Russian missile or air strikes.
08:57am: US President Biden due in Poland
US President Joe Biden was expected to land in Poland on Monday to mark the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. During the February 20-22 visit, Biden is due to meet with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and President Andrzej Duda, as well as Eastern European allies, with whom he will discuss Ukraine, the White House said.
In an interview with CBS on Sunday, Morawiecki said that he and Biden would also discuss possibly increasing US troop presence in Poland and making it more permanent. In June last year, the US president said his country would set up a new permanent army headquarters in Poland in response to Russian threats.
05:19am: Russia, Turkey may talk Black Sea grain deal ‘soon’
Turkish and Russian leaders may soon discuss a UN-backed initiative that has enabled the export of grain from Ukrainian ports, but there is no date set yet, a source familiar with the negotiations on the deal told RIA Novosti on Monday.
The agreement is for renewal in March, but Russia has signalled that it is unhappy with some aspects of the deal and has asked for sanctions affecting its agricultural exports to be lifted.
According to Ukraine, broader negotiations on extending the Black Sea Grain Initiative are expected this week.
04:56am: Russia says 680 Ukrainian officials ‘charged with war crimes’
Russia has charged 680 Ukrainian officials, including 118 members of the armed forces and defence ministry, with breaking laws governing the conduct of war, including the use of weapons against civilians, TASS news agency reported on Monday.
According to the report, which quoted Russia’s chief public investigator, the Ukrainian officials were charged with the “use of prohibited means and methods of warfare”.
Alexander Bastrykin, the head of the Investigative Committee of Russia and who reports directly to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, told the state TASS news agency that the charges include the use of weapons against the civilian population. He added that 138 of those people had been charged in absentia.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
