Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba will meet his Hungarian counterpart, Peter Szijjarto, on Monday in western Ukraine, ahead of an EU summit aimed at unlocking aid for the war-torn country. Relations between the two neighbours have been strained and were further aggravated when Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, in December vetoed €50bn ($55bn) in EU aid for Kyiv. In an effort to mend ties, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky suggested a direct meeting with Orbán, and Monday’s talks between Szijjarto and Kuleba in the city of Uzhhorod are intended to lay the groundwork. Hungary, which has maintained ties with the Kremlin, has also frustrated Nato allies by taking so long to formally approve Sweden’s bid to join the alliance.
Zelenskiy has spoken about the risk of the Ukraine conflict escalating into world war three, as he pressed his case for foreign aid in an interview with German state broadcaster ARD on Sunday. Zelenskiy said that if Russia hit a Nato country, it would be “the beginning of the third world war.” Asked whether he was disappointed that Germany did not plan to supply Ukraine with Taurus cruise missiles, Zelenskiy said he was only disappointed Germany had not played “the role it should have played in the first occupation of Ukraine”. Referring to the weakness of the west’s response to Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014, he said it wasn’t just about the German response.
“It’s not just about Olaf Scholz,” he said. “It concerns European leaders and the US”. In the US, Zelenskiy said Ukraine had support from across the political divide. “There are individual Republicans who do not support Ukraine, but the vast majority of Democrats and Republicans support Ukraine,” he said.
On whether a second term of Donald Trump would affect support for his country, he said US policy does not depend on a single person.US military funding for Ukraine carries a key deterrent message for China, Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg said on Sunday at the start of a Washington visit aimed at lobbying Congress to continue funding the war against Russia. President Joe Biden has asked Congress to approve $61bn in new aid to Ukraine. But the talks have bogged down as Republican lawmakers demand major changes in US border control policy as the price for their approval. “What matters is that Ukraine gets continued support, because we need to realise that this is closely watched in Beijing,” Stoltenberg said on Fox News.
The UK defence ministry believes that the increase in arson attacks on Russian enlistment offices “is highly likely due to a greater sense of dissatisfaction with the war among the Russian population”. There have been 220 attacks on Russian military enlistment offices since the start of the war in February 2022, with 113 in the last six months.
Russia launched drone and missile attacks targeting civilian and critical infrastructure across wide areas of Ukraine, Kyiv’s air force said on Sunday. Preliminary information did not show any casualties in the attacks, but Russia and Ukraine have increased their air attacks on each other’s territory in recent months, targeting critical military, energy and transport infrastructure. The air force said on the Telegram messaging app that Russia attacked the central Poltava region with two ballistic missiles fired from the Iskander ballistic missile system, and three surface-to-air missiles over the Donetsk region in the east.
Defence ministry officials conspired with employees from a Ukrainian arms firm to embezzle almost $40m earmarked to buy 100,000 mortar shells, Ukraine’s security service said. Five people have been charged, with one person detained trying to cross the Ukrainian border. Corruption has been a major roadblock in Kyiv’s bid to joint the European Union and Nato, with officials from both blocs demanding widespread anti-graft reforms before Kyiv can join them.
The beauty giant Avon has been criticised for its Russia links, amid the ongoing war. At the outset of the conflict, the company said it was stopping investment in Russia, where it has a large worker base, and was ending exports from its Russian factory to other parts of the world. However, research by the BBC has discovered the company is still recruiting new sales agents in Russia, with recruits offered prizes, cash bonuses and even holidays for hitting targets, the broadcaster reports.
The hacking group NoName05716 claims to be preparing to target the Ukrainian government with help from other hacking groups 22С, Skillnet, CyberDragon, Federal Legion, People’s Cyber Army and Phoenix.
