The US has imposed sanctions on three Russian entities and one individual involved in the transfer and testing of North Korea’s ballistic missiles for Russia’s use against Ukraine. North Korea’s “transfer of ballistic missiles to Russia supports Russia’s war of aggression, increases the suffering of the Ukrainian people, and undermines the global nonproliferation regime”, said Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state.
Boris Nadezhdin, a Russian presidential hopeful opposing the war against Ukraine, met on Thursday with a group of soldiers’ wives who are demanding that their husbands be discharged from the frontline. The longtime Kremlin critic is collecting signatures to qualify to challenge President Vladimir Putin in the 15-17 March vote.
Nadezhdin, 60, told the soldiers’ wives that the war was “a big mistake by Putin, of course, and the consequences will be very grave … we want [the soldiers] simply to come back”. Putin’s supporters and opponents alike see his re-election as beyond doubt, given his total grip on power and the fact that his best-known opponent, Alexei Navalny, is serving jail terms totalling more than 30 years in an Arctic penal colony.
The EU industrial chief, Thierry Breton, is targeting €3bn in a new scheme to ramp up production of defence equipment. “We just have to make sure we are prepared for all eventualities. Russia is one of our biggest concerns,” he said arguing Europe’s ammunition supplies has to be “on a par” with Russia. “We will propose for the next phase, doing what we did just for ammunition, but for all kinds of equipment that we need to produce, to enhance production in Europe,” Breton said. “We will make this public at the end of February,” he said.
The European Commission has already allocated €1.5bn but wants to double the amount, said Breton, who earlier this week broached the idea of a €100bn European defence fund. He said this would be a matter for the next commission, due to be appointed at the end of this year.
As Volodymr Zelenskiy wrapped up his tour of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, the Ukrainian president said his country was “grateful” for already-delivered Patriot air defence systems, without which it would be “impossible to survive” some attacks, but asked for more deliveries. “How can you live and sleep peacefully, if you have dozens of such systems?” he asked during a press conference in Latvia’s capital Riga.
Latvia’s president, Edgars Rinkevics, announced a new aid package, saying Riga will deliver “artillery shells, anti-aircraft weapons, grenades, drones” for Ukraine this year.
Switzerland and Ukraine will host peace formula talks at Davos on Sunday. It is the latest in a series of meetings to rally support for Ukraine’s peace plan and will be the fourth of its kind and the biggest yet.
Ukraine’s parliament have refused to debate a bill aimed at drafting more soldiers. Speaking after a closed door meeting with Ukraine’s military leaders, David Arakhamia, ruling party leader said “some provisions directly violate human rights”.
Top defence officials from Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania signed a memorandum of understanding in Istanbul establishing the Mine Countermeasures Naval Group in the Black Sea (MCM Black Sea), which will oversee demining operations in the Black Sea to ensure safe waters after Russia’s war.
Russia’s Belgorod region bordering is going through “hard times” due to recent shelling by Ukraine, said its governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov.
The Kremlin has accused the US of trying to pressure European countries into backing the seizure of frozen Russian assets overseas to help finance the rebuilding of Ukraine – an idea that has gained momentum.
Ukraine has been building barricades and digging trenches as its focus shifts towards defence. On Wednesday, Reuters reporters visited trenches being dug with an excavator and shovels at an undisclosed location in the Chernihiv region near the Russian border.
Ukraine’s national union of journalists said Russian missile strikes on a hotel in Kharkiv amounted to “the intimidation of media workers in order to limit the coverage of the war”. Thirteen people were injured, including foreign journalists.
