Summary
Ukrainian air defences shot down 47 of the 55 missiles Russian forced fired at Ukraine, the country’s top general said on Thursday. Reuters reported that Moscow used the Kh-47 Kinzhal hypersonic missile, among other models, general Valery Zaluzhny said on his Telegram channel. Twenty of the incoming missiles were shot down around the area of the capital Kyiv, he added.
Russia’s finance ministry has proposed scrapping liquidity restrictions for spending on “anti-crisis” investments from its national wealth fund (NWF), citing the need to support key sectors amid challenging geopolitical conditions.
The UK hopes the Challenger 2 tanks it is supplying to Ukraine will arrive in the country at the end of March, defence department minister Alex Chalk said on Thursday.
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 Ukrainian central bank’s foreign currency reserves will stand at about $30bn at the end of January, Yuri Heletiy, the deputy governor told reporters on Thursday, according to Reuters.
Russia’s finance ministry on Thursday proposed scrapping liquidity restrictions for spending on “anti-crisis” investments from its National Wealth Fund (NWF), citing the need to support key sectors amid challenging geopolitical conditions.
The arrest of a high-ranking Ukrainian intelligence agent accused of spying for Russia has highlighted the urgent need for a cleanout of the country’s key security service, a former deputy head of the agency has said.
Canada has confirmed that it will be sending 4 Leopard tanks to Ukrainian forces, the AFP reports.
Russia has declared the news outlet Meduza an “undesirable organisation”, in effect outlawing one of the country’s best-known sources of independent reporting on the Kremlin and war in Ukraine.
Meduza, founded by Russian journalists in Riga, Latvia, in 2014, was declared an undesirable organisation by the general prosecutor’s office on Thursday for “posing a threat to the foundations of the Russian Federation’s constitutional order and national security”.
The ruling is meant to obstruct the outlet’s continued reporting on Russia, by threatening its correspondents, sources and donors with fines or criminal prosecution for continuing to produce journalism from the country.
“An especially serious limitation for journalists who must speak to sources to report the news,” Meduza said in a report on Thursday. Meduza described its work as “in [Russia], our homeland, completely prohibited”. The restrictions are so severe that even sharing links to the outlet’s reporting can be considered a crime.
