Closing Summary
That’s it for today’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
Germany’s defence minister, Boris Pistorius, has said their investigation into the military leak has found communications systems were not compromised and maintains that trust remains “unbroken” among allies.
“A serious mistake happened here that should not have happened,” Pistorius told a press conference. “The reason the phone call could still be recorded... is due to an individual user error,” he said.
Germany’s defence minister said that one of the generals on a military conference call on Ukraine that was intercepted by Russia may have broken security protocol by using a non-secure line to dial in.
Pistorius said the 38-minute phone call held over the platform WebEx that was subsequently leaked by Kremlin-controlled TV, had not been intercepted by an individual Russian spy but was most likely the result of a random sweep of insecure data on the sidelines of the Singapore airshow. One of the participants dialled in from his hotel room, and either his mobile phone or an insecure connection in his hotel provided the vulnerability, Pistorius said.
Ukraine claimed on Tuesday that its forces had destroyed a Russian military patrol ship on the Black Sea near the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia 10 years ago. Ukraine’s military intelligence spokesperson Andriy Yusov said the ship had been hit previously but was destroyed after the overnight attack by maritime drones.
The international criminal court in The Hague has issued arrest warrants for two senior Russian military figures who are accused of being responsible for a missile campaign targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure between October 2022 and March 2023. The arrest warrants are for Lt Gen Sergei Ivanovich Kobylash of the Russian armed forces, and Adm Viktor Nikolayevich Sokolov of the Russian navy.
Russia has strengthened its military forces in the north and west of the country to counter what Moscow perceives as a build-up of NATO forces near Russia, defence minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday. In response to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Finland has joined NATO and Sweden is on the point of doing so. NATO is this week conducting a military exercise called Nordic Response 2024 which it says will involve more than 20,000 soldiers in Norway, Finland and Sweden and will focus on collective defence.
The European Commission on Tuesday proposed a new 1.5 billion euro ($1.63 billion) defence industry programme, which would be financed from the European Union budget for the period between 2025 and 2027. The new programme calls on the 27 EU member states to procure at least 40% of their defence equipment collectively by 2030.
Britain has urged a reluctant Berlin to supply long-range Taurus missiles to Kyiv despite an embarrassing leak to Russian television of a top-secret call involving German air force officers who said UK troops were “on the ground” in Ukraine.
Ukraine is pressing up to 10 EU member states to allow the extradition of criminals to the country, including suspects involved with the Wagner group and those accused of large-scale corruption. Andriy Kostin, the prosecutor general of Ukraine, will tell EU justice ministers gathered in Brussels on Tuesday that the country has addressed concerns over security and conditions for prisoners on remand awaiting trial during a war.
Russia accused Western ambassadors in Moscow of meddling in Russia’s internal affairs by attending the funeral of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, saying their behaviour raised questions about the point of such envoys.
Updated
France has invited foreign and defence ministers from Ukraine’s main allies and the NATO Secretary General to participate in a video call on Thursday aimed at showing a “united front” and coming up with concrete proposals to boost support for Kyiv.
President Emmanuel Macron faced a backlash from many Western allies after he openly discussed the idea of sending Western troops to Ukraine at a Paris-based conference on Ukraine last week.
A follow-up conference had been scheduled to take place in Paris with ministers and senior diplomats from some 28 countries, but that was shelved for a video call amid the criticism that the meeting was too rushed.
“The debate that followed reflects only partially the reality of the discussion in Paris and should not overshadow our collective determination to support Ukraine,” according to the invitation seen by Reuters.
The invitation, sent to ministers on behalf of France’s foreign and defence ministers, is also addressed NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell. Both of them had not been invited on Feb. 26.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will also participate by video call, diplomats said.
