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Summary
Here is a comprehensive rundown on where the crisis currently stands:
- Western nations will warn the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, on Thursday that his country will pay “ruinous” costs for invading Ukraine during an unprecedented one-day trio of Nato, G7 and EU summits that will be attended by the US president, Joe Biden, in Brussels.
- Zelenskiy said he hoped for “meaningful steps” at the round of summits, noting they would reveal “who is a friend, who is a partner, and who betrayed us for money”.
- The Ukrainian president also called for a global rally to protest Russia’s war on Ukraine, urging citizens of the world to publicly stand against the war.
- Russian forces have been accused of taking hostage the people of the besieged Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, as local officials imposed drinking water rationing on trapped civilians. About 150,000 people are stuck in the northern city with little hope of aid after Russia cut them off from the capital, Kyiv, when a key bridge was bombed on Wednesday.
- Ukraine is increasing pressure on Russian forces north-east of Kyiv while carrying out successful counterattacks against Russian positions in towns on the outskirts of the capital, the UK defence ministry has said.
- Nato announced it will double its troops along the alliance’s eastern flank. “The first step is the deployment of four new Nato battlegroups in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, along with our existing forces in the Baltic countries and Poland,” said the alliance’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg.
- Nato countries are also expected to agree at Thursday’s meeting to provide special kit to help protect Ukraine against chemical, biological or nuclear attacks launched by Russia.
- The White House has quietly assembled a team of national security officials to sketch out scenarios of how the United States and its allies should respond if Russian President Vladimir Putin unleashes his stockpiles of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons, the New York Times reports.
- Britain will provide 6,000 defensive missiles and extra funds to support the Ukrainian military, as well as BBC journalists providing news coverage in the region.
- The US government has said it believes war crimes have been committed in Ukraine based on its assessment of evidence that civilians have been deliberately targeted.
- Between 7,000 and 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed since the beginning of the war, Nato estimates. By way of comparison, Russia lost about 15,000 troops over 10 years in Afghanistan, the Associated Press has reported.
- Ukraine is using facial recognition software to identify the bodies of Russian soldiers killed in combat and to trace their families to inform them of their deaths, Ukraine’s vice prime minister said.
- The Russian climate envoy Anatoly Chubais has stepped down and left the country in protest against Putin’s war in Ukraine. He is the highest-level official to break with the Kremlin over the invasion.
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Israel has blocked Ukraine from buying Pegasus spyware, fearing Russia’s anger. The revelation, after a joint investigation by the Guardian and Washington Post, offers new insight into the way Israel’s relationship with Russia has at times undermined Ukraine’s offensive capabilities – and contradicted US priorities.
- Putin has said Russia plans to demand payment in roubles for its gas sales to “unfriendly” countries. The announcement sent European futures soaring over concerns the switch would exacerbate a looming energy crisis by jamming up deals that run to hundreds of millions of dollars every day.
- The risk of coup by Russia’s federal security service (FSB) against President Putin is growing every week that the war in Ukraine continues, a whistleblower at the heart of Russian intelligence has said, according to a report from The Times.
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