Closing summary
It has just gone 6.20pm in Kyiv and 7.20pm in Moscow. We will be closing this blog soon, but you can stay up to date on the Guardian’s Russia and Ukraine coverage here.
Here is a recap of today’s latest developments:
A deadly Russian missile strike on the port city of Odesa appeared to land near Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and the visiting Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who described the moment of the bombardment as “intense”. The attack on port infrastructure on Wednesday killed five people and left an unspecified number of wounded, according to Ukraine’s navy.
Ihor Zhovkva, a top Ukrainian diplomatic adviser, told CNN that it could not be ruled out that a Russian missile strike had targeted the delegations of Zelenskiy or Mitsotakis.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s security council, said today that Russia did not target Zelenskiy’s delegation in a missile attack in Odesa on Wednesday. Medvedev said Russia would have hit its target if that had been its aim.
Mitsotakis emphasised the urgent need to continue assisting Ukraine after experiencing first-hand the perils of war during a top-secret visit to the country. Addressing a meeting of European conservative party leaders in Bucharest after coming “very close” to a Russian ballistic missile attack in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa on Wednesday, the Greek prime minister said: “I think that we all have a message for the Kremlin: we will not be intimidated.” His visit had been planned for months with the Greek media reporting on Thursday that he had taken off from a military airport in “top secret” circumstances because of security concerns.
The Kremlin said on Thursday that French president Emmanuel Macron was increasing France’s involvement in Ukraine, after he declined to rule out deploying troops there. “Macron is convinced of his line to strategically defeat our country, and he continues to raise the level of France’s direct involvement,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.
The Russian foreign ministry said on Thursday it had summoned the US ambassador in Moscow and warned her against “attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of the Russian Federation”. Ahead of a March presidential election, it said in a statement that such behaviour would be “firmly and resolutely suppressed, up to and including the expulsion as ‘persona non grata’ of US embassy staff involved in such actions”.
French president Emmanuel Macron on Thursday pledged his country’s “unwavering support” for Moldova as tensions mount between the eastern European country and pro-Russian separatists. Macron and Moldova’s president Maia Sandu signed a Chisinau-Paris defence deal as well as an “economic roadmap” at a meeting at Élysée Palace on Thursday.
Sandu said on Thursday that Russia was renewing its efforts to destabilise her country and warned that, if president Vladimir Putin was not stopped in Ukraine, he continue to be a threat for the rest of Europe. “If the aggressor is not stopped, he will keep going, and the frontline will keep moving closer. Closer to us. Closer to you,” the Moldovan president said as she signed a defence and cooperation agreement with Macron in Paris.
The EU’s largest political party on Thursday endorsed Ursula von der Leyen’s bid for a second five-year term at the helm of the bloc’s powerful Commission. As the two-day European People’s party (EPP) meeting came to a close on Thursday, von der Leyen warned of the expected rise of populists in the bloc’s upcoming elections and Russia’s attempt “to wipe Ukraine off the face of (the) earth”.
Macron also met leaders of France’s main political parties on Thursday as he sought to hammer home the importance of greater support for Ukraine ahead of European elections this summer. The president and party leaders were expected to discuss the war, including the results of an international conference to step up military support for Ukraine held in Paris last week.
Ireland’s prime minister Leo Varadkar has said his government supports a Europe wide defence policy, despite Ireland’s policy of neutrality, adding that he did not believe that “Putin’s ambitions will stop at Ukraine”. He said: “This is our war too and it’s not just happening on Ukraine’s territory. It’s happening all around us, in our seas, and in the form of physical and cyber-attacks.”
China’s top foreign affairs official has accused the US of trying to suppress China and has vowed to deepen relations with Russia, as Beijing continues to assert the importance of what it calls a “multipolar” world order. Foreign minister Wang Yi praised the “strategic guidance” of China’s president Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin for strengthening the relationship to the point that bilateral trade hit a record $240bn last year.
The recently elected Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, issued a stark warning on Thursday that Europe now stands in a new prewar era just as it did before the second world war. “We are living in new times, in a prewar epoch. In fact, for some of our brothers, it is no longer even a prewar time. It is a full-scale war in its most cruel form,” he told fellow prime ministers and hundreds of MEPs attending the annual congress of the EPP alliance in Bucharest.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Thursday that a Belarusian man who had been planning “an act of terrorism” inside Russia on behalf of Ukraine had been killed in the Russian region of Karelia. RIA cited the FSB as saying that the man had intended to blow up an administrative building in the city of Olonets, about 155 miles (250 km) from the Finnish border.
The Czech Republic has announced it is suspending intergovernmental consultations with Slovakia amid growing concerns that Bratislava is shifting away from western policy on supporting Ukraine. The two countries have traditionally enjoyed a special relationship, given their history as part of the former Czechoslovakia, and close economic links.
Russian security council secretary Nikolai Patrushev, a top ally of Putin, said on Thursday that Nato’s latest military exercise looked like a rehearsal for an armed confrontation with Russia. Patrushev said the exercise, which is due to run until 14 March, was destabilising and was raising tensions
Sweden on Thursday is to become the 32nd member of Nato – a development entirely due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. On a visit to Washington, Sweden’s prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, and foreign minister, Tobias Billstrom, are due to hand over final Nato accession documents to US representatives in the coming days. It is Sweden’s last step in a two-year process to join the military alliance.
On Thursday, EU lawmakers approved giving Ukrainian food producers access to EU markets for a further year, rejecting a series of amendments that could have added restrictions. The European Commission has proposed import duties and quotas on Ukrainian farm produce be lifted for another year to June 2025.
Norway will provide new funding to buy artillery shells for Ukraine, under the Czech-led ammunition initiative, the Ukrainian defence ministry said on Thursday. “Norway will provide €140m to procure artillery shells for Ukraine within the Czech initiative,” it said.
A senior Russian military officer warned that the conflict in Ukraine could escalate into a full-scale war in Europe and said the probability of Moscow’s forces becoming involved in a new conflict is increasing “significantly”. Colonel-general Vladimir Zarudnitsky, head of the Russian army’s Military Academy of the General Staff, made the comments in an article for “Military Thought”, a defence ministry publication, the state RIA news agency reported on Thursday.
India’s embassy in Moscow confirmed the death of a citizen recruited by the Russian army, days after a relative told Agence France-Presse (AFP) he had been sent to fight in Ukraine. The embassy did not state the circumstances behind Mohammed Afsan’s death but said it was in touch with his family and Russian authorities.
Japan’s top government spokesperson said on Thursday that Tokyo was gravely concerned about closer military cooperation between China and Russia in light of security for Japan as well as for the region. “Our country intends to keep a close eye on development in Sino-Russian relations,” chief cabinet secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told a regular press conference.
The Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has emphasised the urgent need to continue assisting Ukraine after experiencing first-hand the perils of war during a top-secret visit to the country.
Addressing a meeting of European conservative party leaders in Bucharest after coming “very close” to a Russian ballistic missile attack in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa on Wednesday, Mitsotakis said: “I think that we all have a message for the Kremlin: we will not be intimidated, we will continue to support Ukraine and its brave citizens for as long as necessary. And we remain united on this issue.”
The Greek leader came within meters of the blast as he toured the Black Sea port with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Wednesday morning. The strike left five dead and an unspecified number of wounded with Ukrainian officials saying today that the visiting delegation was deliberately targeted.
Mitsotakis, who was visiting Ukraine for the first time since the Russian invasion began in February 2022, said the sttack occurred as he and aides were about to get into their motorcade. The Greek minister of state Stavros Papastavrou, who was also with the leader, was quoted as saying he believed the missile struck “within 200 meters” of the convoy.
The prime minister’s seven-hour visit had been planned for months with the Greek media reporting Thursday that he had taken off from a military airport in “top secret” circumstances because of security concerns.
It had been decided that the two leaders would meet in Odesa because of the Black Sea city’s historic links to Greece. Home to a vibrant Greek community, Odesa played a key role in the nation’s war of independence against Ottoman rule in the early 19th century with Mitsotakis vowing to help rebuild it once the war ended.
