Closing summary
It’s 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
The EU has pledged to double a military aid programme for Ukraine by training an extra 15,000 soldiers as part of a blizzard of announcements aimed at showing that it will “stand by Ukraine for the long-haul”. Speaking at the start of a two-day trip to Kyiv, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, reiterated that the EU aimed to have a tenth package of sanctions against Russia in place by 24 February.
Von der Leyen also reiterated that the EU would cap the price of Russian petroleum products, as part of a broader G7 plan to restrict oil revenues available to the Kremlin’s war machine. The G7 and the EU have already agreed a price cap on crude oil that came into force last December and according to Von der Leyen, costs Russia €160m (£142m) a day. The EU’s 27 member states are yet to agree on the latest oil price cap.
The EU also intends to work with Ukrainian prosecutors to set up an international centre for the prosecution of the crime of aggression in Ukraine to be located in The Hague, Von der Leyen said. The purpose of this centre is to collect and store evidence, for any future trial, whether that takes place via a special tribunal or some other way.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has urged the EU to impose more sanctions on Russia, and said he had discussed a new sanctions package with Von der Leyen. Ukraine’s president said the speed of the EU sanctions campaign against Russia had “slightly slowed down” while Russia had been “increasing its pace of adapting to sanctions”.
Russia is planning a major offensive to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine on 24 February, according to the country’s defence minister. Speaking to French media, Oleksii Reznikov warned Russia would call on a large contingent of mobilised troops. Referring to the general mobilisation of 300,000 conscripted soldiers in September, he claimed that numbers at the border suggest the true size could be closer to 500,000.
Russia has warned it has “the potential” to respond to western arms deliveries to Ukraine that will not just be about “using armoured vehicles”. In a speech marking the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory against Nazi Germany in the Battle of Stalingrad, Vladimir Putin appeared to allude to Russia’s enormous nuclear weapons arsenal, warning “those who expect to win on the battlefield apparently do not understand that a modern war with Russia will be utterly different for them”.
Russia’s former president Dmitry Medvedev has said Russia’s arms suppliers will “significantly” increase their deliveries of military hardware during 2023. Medvedev, who is deputy chairman of the powerful Security Council and oversees a government commission on arms production, said new supplies would help Russia inflict a “crushing defeat” over Ukraine on the battlefield.
Two Russian missiles struck Kramatorsk on Thursday, after an apartment block in the eastern Ukrainian city was hit Wednesday night, killing three people. The latest strikes have resulted in civilian casualties, said the head of the regional military administration, Pavlo Kyrylenko, but it is not clear how many. Two people were killed by Russian shelling in the southern Kherson region.
Those attacks came after a Russian missile strike on a residential building in Kramatorsk on Wednesday night killed at least three people and injured 20 others. The police force said an Iskander-K tactical missile had struck at 9.45pm local time.
At least eight people have died after a fire at a dormitory for construction workers in the Crimean city of Sevastopol, Russian officials said. The fire broke out in temporary accommodation for workers building the Tavrida highway, a road linking the cities of Sevastopol and Simferopol, according to the Russia-installed governor of Sevastopol.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said everybody wanted the conflict in Ukraine to end, but that the west’s support for Kyiv was playing an important role in how Moscow approached the campaign. In an interview on Russia’s state TV, Lavrov also said Moscow had plans to overshadow pro-Ukrainian events arranged by western and allied countries around the world to mark the invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.
A senior Russian lieutenant who fled after serving in Ukraine has described how his country’s troops tortured prisoners of war and threatened some with rape. “I have personally seen our troops torture Ukrainian soldiers,” Konstantin Yefremov, who is the most senior soldier to speak out against the war, told the Guardian in a phone call. “I feel relieved that I can finally speak out about the things I have seen.”
A state-of-the-art missile defence system provided by Italy and France should be up and running in Ukraine within the next two months, Italy’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, has said. France and Italy agreed to supply their SAMP/T air defence system to Ukraine, on Kyiv’s request, to help protect the country’s critical infrastructure and cities from the regular barrage of Russian missiles hitting Ukraine.
Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, has said he is open to supplying Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets if the decision were taken together with Nato allies. In an interview with Bild, he stressed that his assessment was “based on what Nato countries decide together” and that the decision required the “strategic consideration of the whole” alliance.
Britain’s defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has said Russia is using tactics similar to those used in the first world war and suffering heavy casualties as a result. Asked about the possibility of supplying British fighter jets to be used by Ukrainian forces, Wallace did not rule out the possibility but said there was “no magic wand” that could help Kyiv in its fight against Moscow.
The European parliament has voted in support of a roadmap for Ukraine’s accession to the EU. The Ukrainian prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, has said he wanted Ukraine to join the EU in two years but in reality, it was likely to take much longer.
Norway will increase the spending from its sovereign wealth fund in the coming years to fund military and civilian aid to Ukraine, the Norwegian prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, told parliament on Thursday. He did not specify how much money Norway would spend on Ukraine aid, but said it would be a multi-year commitment. The announcement comes after Norwegian academics, rights campaigners, bestselling authors and a former minister urged Oslo to do more to help after earning billions in extra oil and gas revenue from Russia’s war.
Updated
Former Russian soldier reveals he saw Ukrainian prisoners of war tortured
A senior Russian lieutenant who fled after serving in Ukraine has described how his country’s troops tortured prisoners of war and threatened some with rape.
Konstantin Yefremov left Russia in December after spending three months in the parts of the southern Zaporizhzhia oblast that were occupied in Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
“I have personally seen our troops torture Ukrainian soldiers,” Yefremov, who is the most senior soldier to speak out against the war, told the Guardian in a phone call from Mexico, where he currently is. “I feel relieved that I can finally speak out about the things I have seen.”
Yefremov is one of a growing body of soldiers who have fled Russia and spoken out against the war. The Guardian earlier interviewed Pavel Filatyev and Nikita Chibrin, two Russian contract soldiers who have similarly denounced the war.
Yefremov was previously based in Chechnya in the Russian army’s 42nd Motorised Rifle Division, where he was involved in mine clearance. At the beginning of February last year, two weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine, he said he was sent with his unit to Crimea to take part in what he was told were military exercises.
He said he tried to flee as soon as he realised he would be sent to fight in Ukraine.
I left my gun, found the first taxi and drove off. I wanted to return to my base in Chechnya and hand in my resignation papers because I was against this horrible war.
But, according to Yefremov, he was threatened with 10 years in jail for desertion by his superiors and he decided to return to his unit. “It was a mistake, I should have tried harder to leave,” he said.
Updated
Ukraine has signed an agreement with the EU on its participation in the single market programme, its prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, has said.
We have also signed the agreement on 🇺🇦's participation in 🇪🇺 Single Market Programme. Its budget amounts to €4.2 billion. Our participation will contribute to additional support for 🇺🇦 entrepreneurs, who are the foundation of the economy. 2/2 pic.twitter.com/CMZkEMgFiy
— Denys Shmyhal (@Denys_Shmyhal) February 2, 2023
The agreement will provide Ukraine with support to businesses, facilitating access to markets, a favourable business environment, sustainable growth and internationalisation, according to the European Commission.
Updated
At least three people were killed after a Russian missile strike struck the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk on Wednesday night, destroying an apartment building and damaging nine others.
Police said the apartments were hit by an Iskander-K tactical missile at 9.45pm local time, after earlier reports had described a rocket attack.
The dead include a husband and wife and a 61-year-old pensioner, whose daughter was still believed to be missing. Eighteen people were also wounded.
Hours later, regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said two more strikes had also targeted the city centre, leaving at least five people wounded and more than a dozen buildings damaged.
Russia warns it will ‘use more fully its available potential’ to respond to western arms supplies to Ukraine
Russia has warned it has “the potential” to respond to western arms deliveries to Ukraine that will not just be about “using armoured vehicles”.
In a speech marking the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory against Nazi Germany in the Battle of Stalingrad, Vladimir Putin appeared to allude to Russia’s enormous nuclear weapons arsenal while referring to the military aid promised to Ukraine by its European and American allies.
Putin said:
Those who expect to win on the battlefield apparently do not understand that a modern war with Russia will be utterly different for them. We are not the ones sending our tanks to their borders.
He added:
But we have a way to respond, and it will not just end with the use of armoured vehicles. Everyone should understand this.
The Financial Times’ Max Seddon has the clip:
Putin makes vague nuclear threats over western tank supplies to Ukraine.
— max seddon (@maxseddon) February 2, 2023
“Those who plan to defeat Russia on the battlefield don’t understand a modern war with Russia will be very different [...] We have ways of responding, and it won’t just be limited to armored vehicles.” pic.twitter.com/ms9ZT4FRdK
Asked to comment on the Russian leader’s remarks, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said:
This means that Russia has the potential and as long as new weapons supplied by the collective West appear, Russia will use more fully its available potential to respond.
Updated
The former Chelsea and Ukraine footballer Andriy Shevchenko has urged the International Olympics Committee (IOC) to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing at the 2024 Olympics.
In a post on Facebook, Shevchenko called on the IOC to “strongly condemn” Russia’s war of “aggression” and not allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete “until the war in Ukraine is over”.
“There is no politics in sport. But this war is more than just politics,” he said.
If athletes from Russia or Belarus enter the arena, with or without flags, it reflects this statement from the Olympics Committee to the whole world — the war is over, you can forgive everyone and forget everything.
But the war is not over. Every day war destroys our cities, ruins the childhood of our kids and threatens our existence.
Sports ministers representing Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland issued a statement earlier today calling on international sports bodies to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing in the Olympics and other events while the war in Ukraine continues.
The statement reads:
Efforts to return Russian and Belarusian athletes to international sports competitions under the veil of neutrality legitimise political decisions and widespread propaganda of these countries.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said that allowing Russia to compete at the 2024 Games would be tantamount to showing that “terror is somehow acceptable”, while his adviser Mykhailo Podolyak has accused the IOC of “promoting violence, mass murders, destruction”.
The IOC has said it “rejects in the strongest possible terms this and other defamatory statements. They cannot serve as a basis for any constructive discussion”.
Updated
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said the future of the EU “is being written, right now, in Ukraine” after meeting with EU leaders, including European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, in Kyiv today.
The future of the EU is being written, right now, in Ukraine.
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) February 2, 2023
This is a fight for freedom, sovereignty and democracy. 🇪🇺 🇺🇦@vonderleyen pic.twitter.com/L6UNdkdFg4
Russia’s former president Dmitry Medvedev, has said Russia’s arms suppliers will “significantly” increase their deliveries of military hardware during 2023.
Posting to social media, Medvedev, who is deputy chairman of the powerful Security Council and oversees a government commission on arms production, wrote:
Our armed forces regularly receive full supplies of various types of missiles. The delivery of all kinds of military hardware will increase significantly in 2023.
New supplies would help Russia inflict a “crushing defeat” over Ukraine on the battlefield, he said.
Updated
Britain’s defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has said Russia is using tactics similar to those used in the first world war and suffering heavy casualties as a result.
Taking questions at a press briefing in Portsmouth alongside Australian ministerial counterparts, Wallace was asked about the possibility of supplying British fighter jets to be used by Ukrainian forces. He replied there was “no magic wand” that could help Kyiv in its fight against Moscow.
He said:
On the question of jets, one thing I’ve learned over the last year is don’t rule anything in, don’t rule anything out. That is the simple reality. We respond to the needs of the Ukrainians at the time, based on what the Ukrainians tell us, what we see in intelligence, in our knowledge of the Russians on the battlefield.
He did not rule out the possibility of sending jets but said fighter aircraft were not what Ukraine needed right now and that there were practical issues to consider, such as the many months it would take to train Ukrainian forces to use them.
Instead, he said what Ukraine currently needed was for ground forces to be strengthened, He said:
What the Ukrainians need is the ability to form military formations on the ground in order to use combined arms manoeuvre to push back Russian forces. That is how you defeat the human wave attacks that the Russians are currently having to resort to ... they’re resorting to First World War-level type of attacks, with subsequent casualties to match.
Updated
EU pledges to double military aid programme for Ukraine
Speaking at the start of a two-day trip to Kyiv, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, reiterated that the EU aimed to have a tenth package of sanctions against Russia in place by 24 February, the first anniversary of the invasion ordered by Vladimir Putin.
“We are making Putin pay for his atrocious war,” she told reporters, on a visit accompanied by 15 EU commissioners, the first time so many EU officials have visited a war zone.
Today Russia is paying a heavy price as our sanctions are eroding its economy, throwing it back by a generation.
With a promise to “keep on turning up the pressure”, Von der Leyen also reiterated that the EU would cap the price of Russian petroleum products, as part of a broader G7 plan to restrict oil revenues available to the Kremlin’s war machine. The G7 and the EU have already agreed a price cap on crude oil that came into force last December and according to Von der Leyen, costs Russia €160m (£142m) a day.
The EU’s 27 member states are yet to agree on the latest oil price cap. Discussions continue on a proposal to set the cap at $100 a barrel for premium petroleum products and $45 a barrel for discount ones. One diplomatic source said they were confident of an agreement by 5 February, the agreed deadline.
Von der Leyen and the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, arrived in Kyiv under tight security on Thursday to meet Ukraine’s government, with 14 other EU commissioners.
The heavily symbolic visit was intended not only as a show of support, but encouragement as Ukraine bids to join the EU at unprecedented speed. Ukraine’s government has expressed hope of joining the EU within two years, but most member states think the process will take many years, if not decades.
Von der Leyen will remain in Kyiv on Friday for an EU-Ukraine summit, the first since the Russian invasion.
Among a blizzard of announcements, Von der Leyen said the EU would be supplying Ukraine with 35m LED lightbulbs, 2,400 generators on top of 3,000 already delivered and promised funding for solar panels to power the country’s public buildings. According to Brussels officials, the EU institutions and its 27 member states have given Ukraine support worth €50bn, plus €10bn for 8 million refugees who have fled to Europe.
SAMP/T anti-missile system 'will be running in Ukraine within 7-8 weeks'
A state-of-the-art missile defence system provided by Italy and France should be up and running in Ukraine within the next two months, Italy’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, has said.
France and Italy agreed to supply their SAMP/T air defence system to Ukraine, on Kyiv’s request, to help protect the country’s critical infrastructure and cities from the regular barrage of Russian missiles hitting Ukraine.
The SAMP/T, known as Mamba, can track dozens of targets and intercept 10 at once. It is the only European-made system that can intercept ballistic missiles.
Tajani, who is also deputy prime minister, said today:
I believe it will be operational within seven to eight weeks.
Italy is expected to provide the missile launchers, while France will supply the rockets.
Updated
Summary of the day so far
It’s just past 6pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
Russia is planning a major offensive to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine on 24 February, according to the country’s defence minister. Speaking to French media, Oleksii Reznikov warned Russia would call on a large contingent of mobilised troops. Referring to the general mobilisation of 300,000 conscripted soldiers in September, he claimed that numbers at the border suggest the true size could be closer to 500,000.
Russian forces are trying to make gains they can show on the February anniversary of their invasion, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly address on Wednesday. The Ukrainian president issued a dire account of the situation in the eastern province of Donetsk, saying: “A definite increase has been noted in the offensive operations of the occupiers on the front in the east of our country.”
Vladimir Putin has compared today’s fight against Ukraine and its western allies to Russia’s victory against Nazi Germany in the second world war. In a speech marking 80 years since the decisive Soviet victory in the battle of Stalingrad, Putin said Russia was sure it would be victorious in Ukraine and criticised Berlin’s promise to deliver Leopard 2 tanks to support Kyiv on the battlefield.
Fierce fighting continued in eastern Ukraine, where Russian troops are trying to gain ground near the strategic logistics hub of Lyman, the Ukrainian deputy defence minister Hanna Malyar said on Wednesday evening.
Two Russian missiles struck Kramatorsk on Thursday, after an apartment block in the eastern Ukrainian city was hit Wednesday night, killing three people. The latest strikes have resulted in civilian casualties, said the head of the regional military administration, Pavlo Kyrylenko, but it is not clear how many.
At least three people were killed and 20 others injured after a Russian missile destroyed an apartment building and damaged seven more in Kramatorsk on Wednesday night, regional police said. The police force said an Iskander-K tactical missile had struck at 9.45pm local time.
At least eight people have died after a fire at a dormitory for construction workers in the Crimean city of Sevastopol, Russian officials said. The fire broke out in temporary accommodation for workers building the Tavrida highway, a road linking the cities of Sevastopol and Simferopol, according to the Russia-installed governor of Sevastopol.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said everybody wanted the conflict in Ukraine to end, but that the west’s support for Kyiv was playing an important role in how Moscow approached the campaign. In an interview on Russia’s state TV, Lavrov also said Moscow had plans to overshadow pro-Ukrainian events arranged by western and allied countries around the world to mark the invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.
An international centre for the prosecution of crimes in Ukraine will be set up in The Hague, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has announced. “It will coordinate the collection of evidence, it will be embedded in the joint investigation team which is supported by our agency Eurojust,” she said during an official visit to Kyiv along with more than a dozen other senior EU officials for two days of high-level talks.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has urged the EU to impose more sanctions on Russia, and said he had discussed a new sanctions package with Von der Leyen. Ukraine’s president said the speed of the EU sanctions campaign against Russia had “slightly slowed down” while Russia had been “increasing its pace of adapting to sanctions”.
The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, has announced a doubling of the number of Ukrainian troops to be trained by the EU to 30,000 this year. He also promised €25m for mine clearance in areas recaptured by Ukraine, tweeted that “Europe stood united with Ukraine from day one. And will still stand with you to win and rebuild.”
Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, has said he is open to supplying Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets if the decision were taken together with Nato allies. In an interview with Bild, he stressed that his assessment was “based on what Nato countries decide together” and that the decision required the “strategic consideration of the whole” alliance.
Downing Street has rejected calls from the former UK prime minister Boris Johnson to supply Ukraine with British fighter jets to fight Russia. It could take years to fully train a pilot to fly a British fighter jet, a No 10 spokesperson said, adding that Britain’s focus was on “how we can help Ukraine defend their country and push back this year”.
The European parliament has voted in support of a roadmap for Ukraine’s accession to the EU. The Ukrainian prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, has said he wanted Ukraine to join the EU in two years but in reality, it was likely to take much longer.
Norway will increase the spending from its sovereign wealth fund in the coming years to fund military and civilian aid to Ukraine, the Norwegian prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, told parliament on Thursday. He did not specify how much money Norway would spend on Ukraine aid, but said it would be a multi-year commitment. The announcement comes after Norwegian academics, rights campaigners, bestselling authors and a former minister urged Oslo to do more to help after earning billions in extra oil and gas revenue from Russia’s war.
Austria has declared four Russian diplomats personae non gratae for behaving in a manner inconsistent with international agreements, the foreign ministry has said. The move brings the number of Russian diplomats expelled by Austria since 2020 to nine, though any connection between the three separate decisions is unclear.
Good afternoon from London. I’m Léonie Chao-Fong and I’ll be bringing you the latest developments from the Russia-Ukraine war. Feel free to drop me a message if you have anything to flag, you can reach me on Twitter or via email.
Updated
Poland ‘open to sending fighter jets to Ukraine’, says PM
Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, has said he is open to supplying Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets if the decision were taken together with Nato allies.
In an interview with the German newspaper Bild, published today, he said:
If this was a decision of the whole of Nato, I would be for sending these fighter jets.
He stressed that his assessment “is based on what Nato countries decide together” and that the decision required the “strategic consideration of the whole” alliance.
Western allies should coordinate any supply of fighter jets “because this is a very serious war and Poland is not participating in this war, Nato is not participating”, he added.
The US, Britain and Germany have ruled out sending fighter jets in the past days.
France, which makes its own combat jets, appears to have a more open mind. President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday their supply was not taboo as long it could not be deemed escalatory and they were not used to target “Russian soil”.
Vladimir Putin has been attending commemorations for the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi forces in the battle of Stalingrad.
The Russian leader was photographed laying a wreath at the eternal flame of the memorial complex to the fallen Red Army soldiers in Volgograd.
Updated
Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania want Russian and Belarusian athletes banned from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The International Olympic Committee is considering allowing Russian and Belarusian participation as neutrals, as Russians have done for the past three Olympics.
Updated
Putin compares fight against Ukraine to victory over Nazi Germany
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has compared today’s fight against Ukraine and its western allies to Russia’s victory against Nazi Germany in the second world war, in a speech marking 80 years since the decisive battle of Stalingrad.
Putin said Russia was sure it would be victorious in Ukraine, as it had been 80 years ago.
He said Russia was once again confronting Germany, as he criticised Berlin’s promise to deliver Leopard 2 tanks to support Ukraine on the battlefield
Updated
Finland and Sweden remain committed to joining Nato at the same time despite Turkey’s opposition to the Swedish candidacy, the two countries’ prime ministers have said.
Turkey has said it would approve Finland’s application ahead of Sweden’s, but the Finnish president and foreign minister both rejected this idea, arguing that the security of the two Nordic countries is mutually dependent.
The Finnish prime minister, Sanna Marin, told a joint news conference in Stockholm on Thursday:
I don’t like this atmosphere, position where Sweden is presented as a sort of trouble child in the classroom. I don’t think this is the case.
Sweden also ticks all the boxes that are needed to become a member of Nato.
The Swedish prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, said his country continued to abide by a trilateral agreement on Nato accession signed last year between Sweden, Finland and Turkey.
Kristersson said:
We embarked on this journey together and we do the journey towards membership together.
Updated
Reuters has some analysis on Ukraine’s pathway to EU membership, noting that the country should expect any hopes of quickly joining the 27-country bloc to be dashed.
Here’s why:
Prime minister Denys Shmyhal has said he wanted Ukraine to join the European Union in two years and a liberal Belgian EU lawmaker said teasingly he dreamt of it happening over the next five. In reality, that is most likely to take much longer.
The last country to have joined the EU was Croatia in 2013, a decade after formally applying. Ukraine’s neighbour Poland took 20 years until joining in 2004.
Ukraine applied to join shortly after the invasion and last June received a formal candidate status from the EU, which cast it as a bold geopolitical move.
To be allowed in, Ukraine needs to fulfil extensive criteria from political stability including democratic institutions guaranteeing the respect of the rule of law and human rights to economic ability to withstand more competition.
Ukraine will have to transpose its national law to extensive EU legal standards from climate to labour to health, among others.
While the bloc recognises progress so far, it stresses Ukraine needs to do more to build a credible track record of fighting endemic corruption.
Beyond that, the EU highlights reforms necessary to ensure that courts are free from political meddling and the rights of minorities respected in Ukraine.
Accession criteria do not specifically say a country at war cannot become an EU member but the bloc does not want to import territorial conflicts. It did, however, allow Cyprus to join in 2004 despite Nicosia not controlling the whole island since Turkey’s 1974 invasion.
All EU countries must agree to take a new peer in. Beyond Ukraine meeting the complex criteria, it would also have to overcome reluctance from several founding states including France and the Netherlands to expand the bloc more to the east.
EU enlargement talks have stalled since 2018 as the current members cannot agree whether to admit other official candidates Albania, North Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro and Serbia.
The bloc is also divided on awarding formal candidate status to other hopefuls Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Georgia.
With 44 million people, Ukraine would be the fifth-biggest EU country after Germany, France, Italy and Spain, giving it large influence on the bloc’s decisions.
Updated
MEPs agree to discuss EU membership in Kyiv
The European parliament has voted in support of a roadmap for Ukraine’s accession to the EU.
Interfax reports:
Ahead of the upcoming EU-Ukraine summit in Kyiv on 3 February, MEPs voted on a resolution setting out expectations for the discussion, which received 489 votes in favour, 36 against and 49 MEPs abstained.
The resolution sets out that the European Union will “work on the start of accession negotiations and support a roadmap outlining further steps to ensure Ukraine’s accession to the EU single market”.
At the same time, the members of the European parliament emphasised that “accession is a process based on achievements and involves compliance with relevant procedures and implementation of EU-related reforms and criteria”.
They called on the Ukrainian authorities “to carry out significant reforms as soon as possible so that the country meets the criteria for EU membership”.
The resolution also underscores the need to strengthen EU support for Ukraine.
MEPs recommended that EU member states should “increase and speed up military aid to Kyiv, including the provision of weapons, but also provide the necessary political, economic, infrastructural, financial and humanitarian support”.
The resolution contains a call to prioritise agreeing a comprehensive package of measures to restore Ukraine at the upcoming summit, including short, medium and long-term support, from immediate assistance to stimulating economic growth after the war.
The MPs further demanded an “immediate and complete” embargo on the import of fossil fuels and uranium from Russia into the EU, as well as the complete abandonment of the Nord Stream gas pipelines.
Updated
Journalist Ilya Azar is facing criminal charges for “discrediting” the Russian army, Russian newspaper RIA Novosti claims, citing a law enforcement source.
On Thursday morning, the Baza Telegram channel reported that Moscow investigators were allegedly conducting a check against a journalist who left Russia after the start of the war.
RIA Novosti wrote:
In June, Azar published a post on a social network in which he discredited the Russian military in every possible way. The actions of the journalist fall under Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (public actions which discredit the army).
Azar himself was unable to confirm or deny reports of pre-investigation checks, instead publishing a screenshot of the news on his Telegram channel.
He wrote:
After two administrative cases for “discrediting” the Russian army because of two posts on Facebook in spring, a criminal case for posts in summer was a matter of time.
Updated
The Disasters Emergency Committee has raised more than £400m in the UK to help with the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.
DEC launched a report on how donations from the UK public have enabled its charities to provide aid to millions of people in need, inside Ukraine and in neighbouring countries.
The UK government match funded £25m of public donations to the appeal.
The DEC said it was the biggest charity donor to the response inside Ukraine and for the regional refugee response, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Financial Tracking Service.
Examples of aid delivered by DEC charities and their local partners included in the report are:
Projects to provide food to people in war-torn areas, including a team of volunteer cycle couriers delivering food and medicines to vulnerable people in their homes.
Working with Ukraine’s ministry of health to deliver 75,000 life-saving trauma kits for civilian use and 34 incubators for premature babies.
Providing generators for people in bomb shelters to keep them safe and warm over winter as the targeting of Ukraine’s power grid leaves them without electricity and heating.
Programmes giving refugees and people displaced from their homes within Ukraine cash payments so that they can decide how best to meet their own needs.
Supporting special schools in Poland for refugee children with Ukrainian teachers, as well as 20 ‘digital learning centres’ for children and parents.
Providing mental health support to people recover from their experiences of the conflict.
In the first six months of the response, DEC charities reached millions of people with aid, including:
1.9 million people provided with access to clean water
392,000 people who received food assistance, including hot meals and food parcels
338,000 people who received cash payments to meet their basic needs
127,000 people who accessed basic services at transit centres for displaced people
71,000 people who accessed primary healthcare services
114,000 people who received legal help and support
10,000 people who were provided with temporary accommodation
The majority of DEC funds spent in the first six months were used inside Ukraine itself (59%), with the rest being spent on the refugee response in Romania (17%), Poland (16%), Moldova (4%) and Hungary (2%) and on region-wide safeguarding and capacity-building initiatives (2%).
DEC chief executive Saleh Saeed said:
The crisis has been so huge, so widespread and so devastating that we wanted to take the time to detail how donations have helped different people at every stage of the year. What’s more, the level of funds raised mean that we can keep providing that support, as we know that this crisis is far from over with needs developing and changing all the time as the situation unfolds. I’d like to thank each and every person who has donated, fundraised, got their company or organisation involved. The response has been truly remarkable and we are so grateful for the support.
The Ukraine humanitarian appeal is the 75th DEC appeal in its 60-year history. The DEC is still accepting donations to the appeal to allow member charities to continue to bolster and adapt their plans.
Rachel Hall here taking over the Ukraine blog – do send over anything we’ve missed.
Updated
EU says international centre for prosecution of crimes in Ukraine will be set up in The Hague
The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has announced that an international centre for the prosecution of crimes in Ukraine will be set up in The Hague.
Von der Leyen is in Kyiv, where she and other EU officials are visiting to show their support and pledge military, financial and political aid for Ukraine ahead of the one-year anniversary of the war.
The European Commission chief said:
It will coordinate the collection of evidence, it will be embedded in the joint investigation team which is supported by our agency Eurojust.
Updated
Russian forces could regain initiative as Ukraine war drags on
A fresh Russian assault around the southern Donbas town of Vuhledar, which began towards the end of January, demonstrates that Moscow’s forces are becoming more capable before a critical – and increasingly uncertain – spring period.
Russian forces have not yet made significant gains across the open fields of the region, where the Ukrainians have been dug in for months. But in parallel with the seemingly never-ending Wagner Group-led assault on Bakhmut, 70 miles to the north-east, it shows the invaders trying to push forward at a second point.
Until now the conventional view has been that Ukraine holds the initiative in the near-year-long war, after Russia’s hasty and chaotic retreat from Izium in September and the better-organised withdrawal from Kherson two months after. But some experts argue that is no longer the case, and the situation is more finely balanced.
The Institute for the Study of War this week said the conflict had settled into “positional warfare” that had given the Russians “the opportunity to regain the initiative if they choose and to raise the bar for future Ukrainian counteroffensives even if they do not”.
Overnight Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said there had been an increase in Russian operational tempo on the frontline. Although western officials do not yet believe the effort around Vuhledar represents the start of a spring offensive in “big strategic terms”, the speculation is that one could be around the corner.
Significantly it has come at a point when Russian air attacks on Ukraine’s electricity grid have slowed, which may suggest Gen Valery Gerasimov’s command has brought about a change of tack to focus on a more conventional military approach rather than to try (and fail) to terrorise civilians from the skies. It is too early to be certain, but it looks increasingly likely the power network will not collapse this winter.
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Volodymyr Zelenskiy has urged the EU to impose more sanctions on Russia, and said he had discussed a new sanctions package with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
Zelenskiy, speaking at a joint news conference in Kyiv with von der Leyen, said the speed of the EU sanctions campaign against Russia had “slightly slowed down” while Russia had been “increasing its pace of adapting to sanctions”. He added:
It’s worth catching up and fixing [this]. We believe that we can do it.
Since Russian troops invaded Ukraine last February, the EU has imposed unprecedented sanctions targeting Russia’s defence and financial sectors, limiting trade and blacklisting about 1,500 people and entities.
But the latest sanctions the EU is preparing for are set to fall short of Ukraine’s expectations. The bloc’s 27 member states have yet to agree on the oil products price cap, and it still has left many business ties untouched, including Belgium’s diamond trade with Russia.
Von der Leyen said the new sanctions package would be ready for the one-year anniversary of the war on 24 February and pledged to “keep on turning up the pressure further”, adding:
We are making Putin pay for his atrocious war. Russia is paying a heavy price as our sanctions are eroding its economy, throwing it back by a generation.
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Downing Street rejects Boris Johnson’s call to send fighter jets to Ukraine
Downing Street has rejected calls from the former UK prime minister Boris Johnson to supply Ukraine with British fighter jets to fight Russia.
It could take years to fully train a pilot to fly a British fighter jet, a No 10 spokesperson said, adding that the UK’s current focus was on “how we can help Ukraine defend their country and push back this year”.
Britain has said it is not practical to send Ukraine UK fighter jets, given the complexity of the jets and the length of time it takes to train pilots.
The prime minister Rishi Sunak’s official spokesman said:
We will continue listening to the Ukrainians and consider what is right for the long term, but – if helpful to understand the situation – the fastest training programme for a new pilot is approximately 35 months.
The current UK fast jet training programme took five years, he added.
In a speech to the Atlantic Council thinktank yesterday, Johnson said it was time to give Kyiv the tools – including fighter jets – to reclaim Ukrainian land taken by Vladimir Putin since the 24 February invasion. He said:
Give them the deep fire artillery systems, give them the tanks, give them the planes, because they have a plan. They know what they need to do.
The UK’s defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has said Britain has not made a “solid decision” not to send its fighter jets to Ukraine but does not think it is the “right approach” at the moment.
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A former Russian army officer who fled the country has claimed he witnessed the torture of Ukrainian soldiers.
Konstantin Yefremo, the most senior Russian officer to speak openly, said he tried to resign from the army but was later dismissed for refusing to return to Ukraine. He has since fled Russia.
In an interview with the BBC, he said he saw brutal interrogations where Ukrainian men were shot and threatened with rape.
“I have no moral right to ask Ukrainians for forgiveness. I can’t forgive myself, so I can’t expect them to forgive me.” A former Russian army officer tells us about crimes he says he saw Russian soldiers committing in Ukraine, including torture & looting. Producer @BBCWillVernon pic.twitter.com/vNDOjKGpBW
— Steve Rosenberg (@BBCSteveR) February 2, 2023
Two people have been killed by Russian shelling in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, according to local officials.
Residents in Kherson city “woke up to explosions”, the Kherson regional military administration posted to Telegram. It said:
Despite the danger of repeated attacks, the locals went to the most damaged house where a 25-year-old man lived. The body of the young Kherson resident was lying in the open air. The medics who arrived at the scene could do nothing to help – a fragment of a Russian shell had taken his life instantly.
A 44-year-old woman was killed after Russian forces shelled a residential area in the village of Komyshany in Kherson region, it added. In a separate post on Telegram, it said:
In the morning, Russian troops opened fire on the residential sector of Komyshany village, there is a victim.
Eight people die in Sevastopol dormitory fire
At least eight people have died after a fire broke out in a dormitory for construction workers in the Crimean city of Sevastopol, Russian officials said.
The fire broke out in temporary accommodation for workers building the Tavrida highway, a new road linking the cities of Sevastopol and Simferopol, according to the Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev.
Russia’s emergencies ministry said eight people had died and two were injured.
Local law enforcement agencies said the fire was the result of an electrical appliance short-circuiting, the Russian state-run Tass news agency reported.
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Belarus has said it completed two-week-long joint air force drills with Russia’s military that are “exclusively defensive in nature”.
According to the Belarusian defence ministry, the drills were defensive to prepare for possible combat missions.
The exercises involved training for “aerial reconnaissance, deflecting air strikes, air cover of important objects and communications”, according to Pavel Muraveyko, first deputy state secretary of the Belarusian security council.
It comes amid growing concern that Moscow is pressuring its closest ally to join the war in Ukraine. The Belarusian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, has said he will not join the war, but his territory was used as a launchpad for the failed push for Kyiv last year.
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Two more Russian missiles hit Kramatorsk
Two Russian missiles have struck Kramatorsk today, after an apartment block in the eastern Ukrainian city was hit last night, killing three people and injuring 20 others.
The latest strikes have resulted in civilian casualties, said the head of the regional military administration, Pavlo Kyrylenko, but it is not clear how many.
Posting to Telegram, Kyrylenko wrote:
The Russians launched two more missile strikes, again in the centre of the city, in residential buildings.
The city’s mayor, Oleksandr Honcharenko, confirmed there had been a strike and urged residents to stay in bomb shelters.
Two more rocket strikes on Kramatorsk today. The rockets hit the center of the city, residential area. There is information about wounded among civilians - Head of Donetsk regional military administration #RussiaIsATerroristState pic.twitter.com/KJquX7oZMA
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) February 2, 2023
According to Ukraine’s internal affairs ministerial adviser, Anton Gerashchenko, Wednesday’s Russian missile attack destroyed an apartment building and damaged several more.
Hello everyone, it’s Léonie Chao-Fong taking over the live blog from Geneva Abdul to bring you the latest news from Ukraine. I’m on Twitter or you can email me.
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The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, has announced a doubling of the number of Ukrainian troops to be trained by the EU to 30,000 this year.
Borrell is among a group of more than a dozen EU officials, which includes Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen, in Kyiv today to show support for Ukraine and pledge military, financial and political aid.
Russia brought war back to Europe, but Ukraine keeps fighting back. Glad to announce to PM @Denys_Shmyhal that EU Military Assistance Mission #EUMAM will train additional 15.000 Ukrainian soldiers, taking the total number of EUMAM trained personnel to 30.000.
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) February 2, 2023
(1/2) pic.twitter.com/cLTspN6MBz
He also promised €25m for demining areas recaptured by Ukraine, tweeting:
Europe stood united with Ukraine from day one. And will still stand with you to win and rebuild.
Arrived in Kyiv to convey EU’s strongest message of support to all Ukrainians defending their country.
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) February 2, 2023
EU assistance has reached €50 billion since the start of Russia’s war. Europe stood united with Ukraine from day one. And will still stand with you to win and rebuild. pic.twitter.com/wfhIo9f9HT
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In Russia, a military parade marks the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Stalingrad, where the Red Army turned back Nazi forces during the second world war.
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Norway to increase spending to fund military and civilian aid to Ukraine, prime minister announces
Norway will increase the spending from its sovereign wealth fund in the coming years to fund military and civilian aid to Ukraine, the Norwegian prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, told parliament on Thursday.
The prime minister did not specify how much money Norway would spend on Ukraine aid, but said it would be a multi-year commitment, Reuters reports.
Støre said: “This will lead to a temporary increase in spending from the sovereign wealth fund.”
The Nordic country’s $1.3tn wealth fund (£1tn), one of the world’s largest investors, has seen a sharp rise in revenue inflows as the price of Norwegian oil and gas exports soared following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The announcement comes after Norwegian academics, rights campaigners, bestselling authors and a former minister urged Oslo to increase its support for Ukraine, saying the government must do more to help after earning billions in extra oil and gas revenue from Russia’s war.
Read more on Norwegian campaigners and luminaries campaigning Oslo to do more after earning billions in extra oil and gas revenue:
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A Russian missile destroyed an apartment building and damaged seven more in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk on Wednesday night, killing at least three people and injuring 20, regional police said.
Local authorities initially said Russia had fired a rocket but the police force later said an Iskander-K tactical missile had struck at 9.45pm local time.
“At least eight apartment buildings were damaged. One of them was completely destroyed,” police said in a Facebook post. “People may remain under the rubble.”
In another video, a resident, Leonid Klunnyi, described watching television at home when around 9pm or 10pm banging and shooting sounds started. Running to the bathroom, Klunnyi found everything was blown out.
“Operatives and firefighters came immediately, did everything,” he said in a video tweeted by Anton Gerashchenko, Ukraine’s internal affairs ministerial adviser.
“Everything was fast, efficient,” said Klunnyi.
Kramatorsk resident Leonid who lives in the building hit by Russian rocket, tells his story.
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) February 2, 2023
Rescuers continue working on site.
Russia continues terrorizing civilians.
📹: suspilne pic.twitter.com/SfQA7x1PaJ
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Summary
Welcome to those joining our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. My name is Geneva Abdul and I’ll be bringing you the latest for the next hour.
On Wednesday night in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, about 55 km (34 miles) north-west of Bakhmut, a Russian missile destroyed an apartment building, killing at least three people and injuring 20, police said.
The situation on the frontlines in eastern Ukraine “has become tougher” as Russian forces push for gains that they could show on the first anniversary of their invasion, on 24 February, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his late-night address.
It’s 12pm in Ukraine. Here are the other key recent developments:
In an interview on Russia’s state TV on Thursday, foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said everybody wanted the conflict in Ukraine to end, but that the west’s support for Kyiv was playing an important role in how Russia approaches the campaign. Lavrov also said that Moscow had plans to overshadow pro-Ukrainian events arranged by Western and allied countries around the world to mark the invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.
Austria has declared four Russian diplomats personae non gratae for behaving in a manner inconsistent with international agreements, the foreign ministry said on Thursday without giving many specifics.
A UK Ministry of Defence update said Russia’s role as a “reliable arms exporter” is “highly likely” being undermined by its invasion of Ukraine and international sanctions. The MoD said prior to the invasion Russia’s share of the international arms market was declining.
Shell’s annual profits have more than doubled to a record of nearly $40bn (£32.3bn) after a surge in wholesale gas prices linked to the war in Ukraine boosted its performance, as consumers struggled to pay huge energy bills.
More than a dozen top EU officials, including the head of the commission, Ursula von der Leyen, arrived in Kyiv on Thursday with promises of more military, financial and political aid. It’s a symbolic trip meant to highlight support for Ukraine as the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion nears.
Fierce fighting continued in eastern Ukraine, where Russian troops are trying to gain ground near the strategic logistics hub of Lyman, deputy defence minister Hanna Malyar said on Wednesday evening.
A former commander of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group who fled to Norway told Reuters he wanted to apologise for fighting in Ukraine and was speaking out to bring the perpetrators of atrocities in the conflict to justice.
Britain’s defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has said he does not think it is the right approach “for now” to send UK fighter jets to Ukraine. He said it was “not a solid decision”, adding: “I’ve learned two things: never rule anything in and never rule anything out.” Meanwhile, Downing Street has continued to rule out providing Kyiv with British jets, saying it was not practical given the complexity of the jets.
Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, said he had a “frank and productive” conversation with France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, regarding his country’s “urgent operational needs for self-defence”.
The US is readying more than $2bn worth of military aid for Ukraine that is expected to include longer-range rockets for the first time as well as other munitions and weapons, two US officials briefed on the matter told Reuters. The Kremlin said longer-range rockets reportedly included in the upcoming package of military aid would escalate the conflict but not change its course.
Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, has said Russia and China’s growing relationship poses a threat not only to Asia but also to Europe. In a speech to Keio University in Tokyo, the Nato chief underlined the importance of stronger cooperation and more “friends” for Nato in the Indo-Pacific region, adding that the war in Ukraine had demonstrated “how security is interconnected”.
A UK Ministry of Defence intelligence update said recent days have seen “some of the most intense shelling of the conflict” along the Dnipro River. “This has included continued shelling of Kherson city,” the ministry notes, adding that outside the Donbas, Kherson is the city most consistently shelled in the conflict.
The woman leading the Kyiv tax authority has been accused of a multimillion-dollar fraud after a raid on one of her four homes. Ukraine’s state bureau of investigation (SBI) said in a statement that the acting head of the inspectorate, who has not been named, had abused her “power and official position” along with other members of the authority.
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Lavrov says Russia has plans to overshadow pro-Ukrainian events
In a wide-ranging interview with state TV, Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said that Moscow had plans to overshadow pro-Ukrainian events arranged by western and allied countries around the world to mark the anniversary of Russia sending its armed forces into Ukraine on 24 February.
In the interview on Thursday, Lavrov said Russian diplomats were working on something to ensure western-led events in New York and elsewhere were “not the only ones to gain the world’s attention”, without providing details, Reuters reports.
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Kramatorsk: three people killed and 18 injured
Earlier we reported on a Russian missile striking the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk on Wednesday night, destroying an apartment building and damaging several more.
Three people have died, two were rescued from the debris, and 18 were wounded of which 8 have been hospitalised, according to Anton Gerashchenko, Ukraine’s internal affairs ministerial adviser.
Local authorities initially said Russia had fired a rocket but the police force later said an Iskander-K tactical missile had struck at 9:45 pm local time (19:45 GMT).
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In an interview with BBC, a Russian army officer who has fled the country admits: “Our troops tortured Ukrainians.”
Konstantin Yefremov, the most senior officer to speak openly, said Russia now sees him as a traitor and defector. Yefremov said he tried to resign from the army but was later dismissed for refusing to return to Ukraine. He has since fled Russia.
I decided to quit. I went to my commander and explained my position. He took me to a senior officer who called me a traitor and a coward … A colonel had promised to put me in prison for up to 10 years for desertion and he’d alerted the police.
Yefremov told the BBC:
I apologise to the entire Ukrainian nation for coming to their home as an uninvited guest with a weapon in my hands. Thank God I didn’t hurt anyone. I didn’t kill anyone. Thank God I wasn’t killed.
He added: “I don’t even have the moral right to ask for forgiveness from the Ukrainians. I can’t forgive myself, so I can’t expect them to forgive me.”
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Russia wants Ukraine conflict to end but is responding to the west, says foreign minister
Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, said the country’s forces would respond to the delivery of longer-range western weapons to Kyiv by trying to push Ukrainian forces further away from its borders to create a safe buffer zone, Reuters reports.
In an interview on Russia’s state TV on Thursday, Lavrov said everybody wanted the conflict in Ukraine – which Moscow calls a “special military operation” – to end, but that the west’s support for Kyiv was playing an important role in how Russia approaches the campaign.
Lavrov also said Russia does not need help from its ex-Soviet allies for its military campaign, and that they had everything needed for the conflict. Lavrov said they had not asked members of the
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that Moscow does not any need help from its ex-Soviet allies for its military campaign in Ukraine.
Lavrov said Russia had everything it needed for the conflict and had not asked members of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) - a Moscow-led alliance that includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan - to provide material support.
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Austria expels four Russian diplomats
Austria has declared four Russian diplomats personae non gratae for behaving in a manner inconsistent with international agreements, a reason often invoked in spying cases, the foreign ministry said on Thursday without giving many specifics.
According to Reuters, two of the four diplomats are at the permanent mission to the United Nations in Vienna, and acted in a way “incompatible” with the agreement between the UN and Austria. The other two are Russian embassy staff who acted in a way “incompatible” with their diplomatic status.
The Ministry of Defence says Russia’s role as a “reliable arms exporter” is “highly likely” being undermined by its invasion of Ukraine and international sanctions.
In the latest intelligence update published on Thursday morning, the MoD said prior to the invasion Russia’s share of the international arms market was declining.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 2 February 2023
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) February 2, 2023
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/9fAjCUB3J7
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/b8uh2GQxgk
Historically, the UK and France have competed with Russia for second or third place behind the US, according to recent government statistics.
However, in 2021, the US had 32% of the global defence export market, followed by France at 28%, Russia at 12% and the UK in fourth in the in-year rankings at 7%.
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Shell makes record $40bn in profits on back of surging gas prices linked to war in Ukraine
Shell’s annual profits have more than doubled to a record of nearly $40bn (£32.3bn) after a surge in wholesale gas prices linked to the war in Ukraine boosted its performance, as consumers struggled to pay huge energy bills.
The oil and gas company posted profits of $9.81bn in the final quarter of last year, compared with $6.4bn a year earlier. That took annual adjusted profits to $39.87bn, outstripping the $19.3bn notched up in 2021.
Read more here:
On Thursday, top members of the EU’s executive European Commission will meet their counterparts in the Ukrainian government. On Friday the head of the commission, Ursula von der Leyen – who has just returned to Kyiv for the fourth time – and the chair of the 27 EU national leaders, Charles Michel, will meet President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Good to be back in Kyiv, my 4th time since Russia‘s invasion.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) February 2, 2023
This time, with my team of Commissioners.
We are here together to show that the EU stands by Ukraine as firmly as ever.
And to deepen further our support and cooperation. pic.twitter.com/zf8fvoNKnG
The European Commission President @vonderleyen and the 🇪🇺 High Representative for Foreign Affairs @JosepBorrellF are in 🇺🇦 today.
— Andriy Yermak (@AndriyYermak) February 2, 2023
Welcoming our allies.
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Viktor Pylypenko, a prominent LGBTQ+ soldier, has shared a video filmed in Vuhledar, a town that has seen continued Russian attacks in recent days as Russian forces try to gain ground on the eastern frontline.
Pylypenko’s video is interrupted by strikes, demonstrating, the Guardian’s Dan Sabbagh says, just how intense fighting there is:
A plea for western help from one of Ukraine's best known LGBTQ+ soldiers, filmed from the new front line town of Vuhledar. It's cut short by incoming, an indication of the intensity of the fighting there (repeat with insta link)https://t.co/jYhCxLVsbr
— Dan Sabbagh (@dansabbagh) February 2, 2023
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A former commander of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group who fled to Norway told Reuters he wanted to apologise for fighting in Ukraine and was speaking out to bring the perpetrators of atrocities in the conflict to justice, Reuters reports.
Andrei Medvedev, who crossed the Russian-Norwegian border on 13 January, says he witnessed the killing and mistreatment of Russian prisoners taken to Ukraine to fight for Wagner.
Medvedev said he fled over the Arctic border, climbing through barbed-wire fences and evading a border patrol with dogs, hearing guards firing shots as he ran through a forest and over the frozen river that separates the two countries.
The 26-year-old is now seeking asylum in Norway.
“Many consider me to be a scoundrel, a criminal, a murderer,” Medvedev said in an interview. “First of all, repeatedly, and again, I would like to apologise, and although I don’t know how it would be received, I want to say I’m sorry.
The EU summit is the first such gathering in the Ukrainian capital since the war started on 24 February 2022, and caps a fortnight during which the west pledged significant new weapons deliveries to Ukraine to help it battle against an expected new Russian offensive. Moscow has denounced these western pledges as provocations.
The allies will discuss sending even more weapons and money to Ukraine, boosting access for Ukraine’s products to the EU market, helping Ukraine cover energy needs, slapping new sanctions against Russia, prosecuting the leadership in Moscow for the war and extending the EU free roaming mobile calls zone to Ukraine.
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EU officials to arrive in Kyiv
More than a dozen top EU officials will arrive in Kyiv on Thursday, Reuters reports, with promises of more military, financial and political aid. It’s a symbolic trip meant to highlight support for Ukraine as the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion nears.
But the EU is set to dash Ukraine’s hopes of being swiftly allowed membership, stressing the need for more anti-corruption measures, and unwilling to admit a country at war, the biggest armed conflict in Europe since the second world war.
Despite much admiration for Ukraine’s resistance and praise for moves to crack down on corruption, the EU refuses to offer Kyiv a fast track to membership.
Prime minister Denys Shmyhal has said he wanted Ukraine to join the European Union in two years and a liberal Belgian EU lawmaker said teasingly he dreamt of it happening over the next five. In reality, that is most likely to take much longer.
“Some may want to speculate about the end game but the simple truth is that we are not there yet,” said another EU official.
On Thursday, top members of the EU’s executive European Commission will meet their counterparts in the Ukrainian government. On Friday the head of the commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the chair of the 27 EU national leaders, Charles Michel, will meet President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
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Kyiv warns of Russian mobilisation on eastern border
Russia is planning a major offensive to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine on 24 February, according to the country’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov.
Speaking to French media, Reznikov warned that Russia would call on a large contingent of mobilised troops. Referring to Russia’s general mobilisation of 300,000 conscripted soldiers in September last year, he claimed that numbers at the border suggest the true size could be closer to 500,000.
“We do not underestimate our enemy,” Reznikov said. “Officially, they announced 300,000, but when we see the troops at the borders, according to our assessments it is much more.”
The Guardian was unable to independently verify these figures.
On Wednesday evening, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russian forces were trying to make gains that they could show on the February anniversary of their invasion, and issued a dire account of the situation in the eastern province of Donetsk.
“A definite increase has been noted in the offensive operations of the occupiers on the front in the east of our country. The situation has become tougher,” Zelenskiy said in a video address.
Reznikov said the offensive would probably be concentrated in two areas: the country’s east, which has seen heavy fighting over recent weeks; and the south.
“We think that, given that [Russia] lives in symbolism, they will try to try something around February 24.”
Kramatorsk apartment block attack kills three
A Russian missile destroyed an apartment building and damaged seven more in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk on Wednesday night, killing at least three people and injuring 20, regional police said.
Local authorities initially said Russia had fired a rocket but the police force later said an Iskander-K tactical missile had struck at 9:45 pm local time (19:45 GMT).
“At least eight apartment buildings were damaged. One of them was completely destroyed,” police said in a Facebook post. “People may remain under the rubble.”
At least 44 people were killed last month when a Russian missile hit an apartment building in the eastern city of Dnipro.
Summary and welcome
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. My name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the latest for the next while.
On Wednesday night in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, about 55 km (34 miles) northwest of Bakhmut, a Russian missile destroyed an apartment building, killing at least three people and injuring 20, police said.
The situation on the frontlines in eastern Ukraine “has become tougher” as Russian forces push for gains that they could show on the first anniversary of their invasion, on 24 February, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his late night address.
Here are the other key recent developments:
Fierce fighting continued in eastern Ukraine, where Russian troops are trying to gain ground near the strategic logistics hub of Lyman, deputy defence minister Hanna Malyar said on Wednesday evening.
A former commander of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group who fled to Norway told Reuters he wanted to apologise for fighting in Ukraine and was speaking out to bring the perpetrators of atrocities in the conflict to justice.
Britain’s defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has said he does not think it is the right approach “for now” to send UK fighter jets to Ukraine. He said it was “not a solid decision”, adding: “I’ve learned two things: never rule anything in and never rule anything out.” Meanwhile, Downing Street has continued to rule out providing Kyiv with British jets, saying it was not practical given the complexity of the jets.
Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, said he had a “frank and productive” conversation with France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, regarding his country’s “urgent operational needs for self-defence”.
The US is readying more than $2bn worth of military aid for Ukraine that is expected to include longer-range rockets for the first time as well as other munitions and weapons, two US officials briefed on the matter told Reuters. The Kremlin said longer-range rockets reportedly included in the upcoming package of military aid would escalate the conflict but not change its course.
Norwegian academics, rights campaigners, bestselling authors and a former minister have urged Oslo to increase its support for Ukraine, saying the government must do more to help after earning billions in extra oil and gas revenue from Russia’s war. Norway’s oil and gas revenues have soared to record levels over the past 12 months as energy prices have tripled after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Norway has replaced Russia as Europe’s largest supplier of natural gas.
Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, has said Russia and China’s growing relationship poses a threat not only to Asia but also to Europe. In a speech to Keio University in Tokyo, the Nato chief underlined the importance of stronger cooperation and more “friends” for Nato in the Indo-Pacific region, adding that the war in Ukraine had demonstrated “how security is interconnected”.
A UK Ministry of Defence intelligence update said recent days have seen “some of the most intense shelling of the conflict” along the Dnieper River. “This has included continued shelling of Kherson city,” the ministry notes, adding that outside the Donbas, Kherson is the city most consistently shelled in the conflict.
The woman leading the Kyiv tax authority has been accused of a multimillion-dollar fraud after a raid on one of her four homes. Ukraine’s state bureau of investigation (SBI) said in a statement that the acting head of the inspectorate, who has not been named, had abused her “power and official position” along with other members of the authority.
