Closing summary
It’s 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
The US has announced a new military aid package for Ukraine worth $2.175bn (£2.2bn). The package will include precision-guided rockets and HAWK air defence firing units, as well as other munitions and weapons, the US state department said. Significantly, it includes the Ground Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB) for the first time, which will double Ukraine’s strike range and allow Ukraine’s military to strike deep behind the frontlines of the war.
France and Italy have finalised technical talks for the joint delivery of the SAMP/T air defence system to Ukraine in spring 2023, the French defence ministry has announced. It comes after Italy foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, said on Thursday that the SAMP/T system would be operational in Ukraine “within seven to eight weeks”. The system can track dozens of targets and intercept 10 at once. It is the only European-made system that can intercept ballistic missiles.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said that Ukraine will continue to fight for Bakhmut as long as it can, vowing that “nobody will give away” the eastern “fortress” city. Speaking at a press conference following a summit in Kyiv with EU leaders Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, the Ukrainian leader said Ukrainians would be able to begin to liberate occupied Donbas if weapons supplies are “quickened, specifically long range weapons”.
EU member countries have agreed on a European Commission proposal to set price caps on Russian oil products, the Swedish presidency of the EU said. Ambassadors of the 27 EU states agreed at a meeting on Friday to impose a $100-per-barrel cap on premium products such as diesel and a $45 cap on low-end products, according to diplomats. The price cap comes into effect on Sunday, as does the EU’s ban on Russian oil product imports.
The EU has promised a tenth package of sanctions against Russia will be in place by 24 February, the first anniversary of the war. The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said the package would cover trade worth €10bn and “hit the trade and technology that supports [Russia’s] war against Ukraine”. The next round of EU sanctions, however, is not expected to include nuclear power, which Hungary has already threatened to block.
President Zelenskiy appealed to the EU to impose sanctions on Russia’s state-run nuclear monopoly Rosatom and its top managers. Zelenskiy said during talks with EU leaders that they had discussed “the extension of the energy sanctions to cover the nuclear sphere”. He argued sanctions should target Rosatom and its managers, who he accused of the seizure and forced nationality change of staff at Ukrainian nuclear power facilities and their children.
Air raid sirens twice sounded across Ukraine on Friday as President Zelenskiy hosted EU leaders in Kyiv. The first air alert in Kyiv was on Friday morning. The second, hours later, followed a joint news conference involving Zelenskiy, von der Leyen and Charles Michel. There were no immediate reports of any Russian airstrikes on Kyiv throughout the day.
EU leaders offered strong support for Ukraine but set “no rigid timelines” for its accession to the bloc. President Zelenskiy had hoped the EU would put Ukraine on a rapid track to membership, but western EU member states are concerned that Kyiv’s expectations on speedy membership talks are unrealistic. “There are no rigid timelines, but there are goals that you have to reach,” von der Leyen told the news conference.
The EU will launch a humanitarian de-mining programme in Ukraine worth €25m, the bloc’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has confirmed. De-mining is “crucial to save the lives of civilian population”, Borrell said. The EU will also supply Ukraine with 35m LED lightbulbs, 2,400 generators on top of 3,000 already delivered and promised funding for solar panels to power Ukraine’s public buildings.
New tanks supplied by Nato allies will serve as an “iron fist” in a counteroffensive by Kyiv to break through Russian defensive lines, Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, has said. Western supplies of 155-mm artillery will be vital for Ukraine to deter Russian attacks in the south and in the east, Reznikov said at a joint news conference with his Polish counterpart, Mariusz Błaszczak.
Germany has approved the export of older Leopard 1 battle tanks, which would add to the raft of fighting vehicles Berlin promised last week it would send to Ukraine. A spokesperson said Olaf Scholz’s government had granted an export licence for the German-made tanks first produced in the 1960s and replaced within Germany’s own military by Leopard 2 tanks in 2003.
Germany is also understood to be in the process of preparing a joint weapons package with Sweden in which Stockholm would provide air defence missiles and launching platforms for Germany’s Iris-T systems. Robert Habeck, the German deputy chancellor and economic minister, discussed this joint package in a meeting with the Swedish minister for foreign trade, Johan Forssell, during a state visit on Thursday, one government official said.
Germany will not play a “key” role in the transfer of F-16 fighter jets to Kyiv because “it is American technology”, Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has said. In an interview with BBC News Ukraine, Kuleba said he had “no doubt” that the decision to supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets would be made, adding that Kyiv was “open to communication with all partners” on aircraft such as the Swedish Gripens, French Mirages and Rafales.
Ukraine has unveiled a criminal case against Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner group of mercenaries fighting on the Russian side in Ukraine. Prigozhin has been charged with encroaching on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine and of waging a war of aggression against Ukraine. Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Andriy Kostin, said Wagner fighters of all ranks would be held responsible, including those who fled abroad.
Updated
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has thanked Joe Biden for the new US military aid package, which includes a new rocket that will double Ukraine’s strike range for the first time in its war with Russia.
The greater Ukraine’s long-range weapons capacity, and the more mobile its troops, the sooner Russia’s brutal aggression will end, Zelenskiy posted to Twitter.
Thank you @POTUS for the new $2.2 billion defense aid package. It's important to strengthen the 🇺🇦 Defense Forces. Together with 🇺🇸 we stand against terror! The more long-range our weapons are and the more mobile our troops are the sooner Russia's brutal aggression will end.
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) February 3, 2023
Updated
France and Italy ready to deliver SAMP/T missile defence system to Ukraine
France and Italy have finalised technical talks for the joint delivery of the SAMP/T air defence system to Ukraine in spring 2023, the French defence ministry has announced.
In a statement after a call between France’s defence minister, Sébastien Lecornu, and his Italian counterpart, Guido Crosetto, the ministry said:
This will allow Ukraine to defend itself against Russian drones, missiles and plane attacks, through the coverage of a significant part of the Ukrainian territory.
It comes after Italy foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, said yesterday that the SAMP/T system would be operational in Ukraine “within seven to eight weeks”.
France and Italy agreed to supply their SAMP/T air defence system, known as Mamba, 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 system can track dozens of targets and intercept 10 at once. It is the only European-made system that can intercept ballistic missiles.
Updated
US military package includes rocket-powered bomb to double Ukraine’s strike range
A new US military aid package for Ukraine worth more than $2.175bn includes a new rocket that would double Ukraine’s strike range, according to a US official.
The Ground Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB) will be provided to Ukraine as part of Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), Brig Gen Patrick Ryder told a news briefing.
The GLSDB’s range is 94 miles (151 km), double that of Ukraine’s current longest-range weapon, the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS), whose rockets can travel 48 miles (77 km).
A greater range would allow Ukraine’s military to strike deep behind the frontlines of the war, attacking Russian forces from a greater distance or potentially penetrating more deeply into Russian-held territory.
The GLSDB will put all of Russia’s supply lines in the east of the country within reach, as well as part of Russian-occupied Crimea.
It will force Russia to move its supplies farther from the frontlines, which could make its soldiers more vulnerable and complicate plans for any new offensive.
Updated
New tanks will act as 'iron fist' in Ukrainian counteroffensive, says defence minister
Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, has said new tanks supplied by Nato allies will serve as an “iron fist” in a counteroffensive by Kyiv to break through Russian defensive lines.
Western supplies of 155-mm artillery will be vital for Ukraine to deter Russian attacks in the south and in the east, Reznikov said at a joint news conference with his Polish counterpart, Mariusz Błaszczak.
Reznikov said:
The new tank coalition with the main tanks of Nato countries - we need this for the counteroffensive, we will use it like an iron fist to break through their defensive lines.
Błaszczak, who is in Kyiv for talks with his Ukrainian counterpart, said Warsaw was helping to train Ukrainian soldiers to use western tanks and that completing the training was a question of “weeks not days or months”.
Updated
EU countries agree on Russian oil price cap
EU member countries have agreed on a European Commission proposal to set price caps on Russian oil products, the Swedish presidency of the EU said.
Ambassadors of the 27 EU states agreed at a meeting today to impose a $100-per-barrel cap on premium products such as diesel and a $45 cap on low-end products, according to diplomats.
The price cap comes into effect on Sunday, as does the EU’s ban on Russian oil product imports. It follows a $60 per-barrel cap imposed on Russian crude on 5 December.
We must continue to deprive Russia of the means to wage war against Ukraine. EU’s import ban on Russian petroleum products comes into force on Sunday.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) February 3, 2023
With the G7 we are putting price caps on these products, cutting Russia’s revenue while ensuring stable global energy markets.
Updated
New EU sanctions will hit Russia’s trade and technology, says von der Leyen
The EU’s 10th package of sanctions against Russia will hit the trade and technology that supports its war against Ukraine, according to the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
Our 9 packages of sanctions are biting, and a 10th one is on its way.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) February 3, 2023
With our partners, we must deny Russia the means to kill Ukrainian civilians and destroy homes and offices.
New measures will hit the trade and technology that supports Russia’s war machine. pic.twitter.com/bXKOa92ENP
Updated
US announces $2.175bn military aid package for Ukraine
The US has announced a new military aid package for Ukraine worth $2.175bn (£2.2bn).
The package will include precision-guided rockets and HAWK air defence firing units, as well as other munitions and weapons, the US state department said.
Foreign Policy’s Jack Detsch has the full list:
Here’s the full list of new US military aid heading to Ukraine.
— Jack Detsch (@JackDetsch) February 3, 2023
The HIMARS Ammo, artillery rounds, MRAPs and Javelins should arrive in days or weeks.
Air defense capabilities and the bottom half of the list need to be procured from weapons manufacturers, which could take months pic.twitter.com/4rLCvt0Mlm
Updated
Summary of the day so far
It’s nearly 7pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said that Ukraine will continue to fight for Bakhmut as long as it can, vowing that “nobody will give away” the eastern “fortress” city. Speaking at a press conference following a summit in Kyiv with EU leaders Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, the Ukrainian leader said Ukrainians would be able to begin to liberate occupied Donbas if weapons supplies are “quickened, specifically long range weapons”.
President Zelenskiy appealed to the EU to impose sanctions on Russia’s state-run nuclear monopoly Rosatom and its top managers. Zelenskiy said during talks with EU leaders that they had discussed “the extension of the energy sanctions to cover the nuclear sphere”. He argued sanctions should target Rosatom and its managers, who he accused of the seizure and forced nationality change of staff at Ukrainian nuclear power facilities and their children.
The EU has promised a tenth package of sanctions against Russia will be in place by 24 February, the first anniversary of the war. Speaking alongside Zelenskiy, Ursula von der Leyen said the package would cover trade worth €10bn and focus on technology used by the Russian military, such as drone components, as well as measures to counter circumvention of sanctions. The next round of EU sanctions, however, is not expected to include nuclear power, which Hungary has already threatened to block.
Air raid sirens twice sounded across Ukraine on Friday as President Zelenskiy hosted EU leaders in Kyiv. The first air alert in Kyiv was on Friday morning. The second, hours later, followed a joint news conference involving Zelenskiy, von der Leyen and Charles Michel. There were no immediate reports of any Russian airstrikes on Kyiv throughout the day.
EU leaders offered strong support for Ukraine but set “no rigid timelines” for its accession to the bloc. President Zelenskiy had hoped the EU would put Ukraine on a rapid track to membership, but western EU member states are concerned that Kyiv’s expectations on speedy membership talks are unrealistic. “There are no rigid timelines, but there are goals that you have to reach,” von der Leyen told the news conference.
The EU will launch a humanitarian de-mining programme in Ukraine worth €25m, the bloc’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has confirmed. De-mining is “crucial to save the lives of civilian population”, Borrell said. The EU will also supply Ukraine with 35m LED lightbulbs, 2,400 generators on top of 3,000 already delivered and promised funding for solar panels to power Ukraine’s public buildings.
Germany has approved the export of older Leopard 1 battle tanks, which would add to the raft of fighting vehicles Berlin promised last week it would send to Ukraine. A spokesperson said Olaf Scholz’s government had granted an export licence for the German-made tanks first produced in the 1960s and replaced within Germany’s own military by Leopard 2 tanks in 2003.
Germany is also understood to be in the process of preparing a joint weapons package with Sweden in which Stockholm would provide air defence missiles and launching platforms for Germany’s Iris-T systems. Robert Habeck, the German deputy chancellor and economic minister, discussed this joint package in a meeting with the Swedish minister for foreign trade, Johan Forssell, during a state visit on Thursday, one government official said.
Germany will not play a “key” role in the transfer of F-16 fighter jets to Kyiv because “it is American technology”, Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has said. In an interview with BBC News Ukraine, Kuleba said he had “no doubt” that the decision to supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets would be made, adding that Kyiv was “open to communication with all partners” on aircraft such as the Swedish Gripens, French Mirages and Rafales.
Ukraine has unveiled a criminal case against Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner group of mercenaries fighting on the Russian side in Ukraine. Prigozhin has been charged with encroaching on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine and of waging a war of aggression against Ukraine. Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Andriy Kostin, said Wagner fighters of all ranks would be held responsible, including those who fled abroad.
Russian-installed authorities in Crimea have said they had nationalised about 500 properties in the peninsula, including some belonging to senior Ukrainian politicians and business figures. In a statement on Telegram, Vladimir Konstantinov, speaker of the Crimean parliament, said the nationalised properties included banks and tourist and sport infrastructure.
Norwegian police say they intend to continue to interrogate a former commander with the Russian mercenary Wagner group who sought asylum in Norway after fighting in Ukraine. Andrey Medvedev has handed “some digital material” to police, Norway’s national criminal police service, Kripos, said in a statement. He remains a witness and is not under any obligation to talk to investigators, it added.
The National Olympic Committee of Ukraine has decided not to immediately boycott the Paris 2024 Games if Russian and Belarusian athletes are allowed to compete. Instead, it will consult with and persuade sports officials around the world to take action over the next two months. The head of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Tony Estanguet, has said it is for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to decide whether Russian and Belarusian athletes can compete in the Games next year.
Hello everyone. It’s Léonie Chao-Fong still here with all the latest news from Ukraine. Feel free to drop me a message if you have anything to flag, you can reach me on Twitter or via email.
Zelenskiy appeals for EU sanctions on Russian nuclear
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has appealed to the European Union to impose sanctions on Russia’s state-run nuclear monopoly Rosatom and its top managers.
Ukraine’s president was speaking at a press conference following a summit in Kyiv with EU leaders Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, who lead the European Commission and European Council respectively.
The EU has promised a tenth package of sanctions against Russia will be in place by 24 February, the first anniversary of the war.
Zelenskiy said during talks with EU leaders they had discussed “the extension of the energy sanctions to cover the nuclear sphere”.
He argued sanctions should target Rosatom and its managers, who he accused of the seizure and forced nationality change of staff at Ukrainian nuclear power facilities and their children.
We would like some of the states, European states who still don’t want to impose sanctions against Rosatom, the top managers of Rosatom… the nuclear power for them to understand what if their children were just taken, put into buses and forcefully taken to the Russian Federation.
For this forced deportation you need to enforce sanctions.
The next round of EU sanctions, however, is not expected to include nuclear power, which Hungary has already threatened to block. Russia has provided Hungary with a €10bn loan to expand a nuclear power plant with Russian nuclear reactors. Last week the Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán said extending sanctions to nuclear power “obviously needs to be vetoed”.
All EU sanctions must be passed unanimously by the bloc’s 27 member states.
Speaking alongside Zelenskiy, von der Leyen said the EU’s 10th package of sanctions would cover trade worth €10bn and focus on technology used by the Russian military, such as drone components. The package will also include measures to counter circumvention of sanctions, she said.
Ukraine’s future is with the EU, says Michel
The president of the European Council, Charles Michel, has tweeted a clip of his recent joint press conference with Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
The Ukrainian people have made “a clear choice for freedom, democracy, and rule of law”, Michel said.
He continues:
We in the EU have also made a clear decision. Your future is with us in our common European Union. Your destiny is our destiny.
The Ukrainian people have made a clear choice for freedom, democracy, and rule of law. And we in the EU have also made a clear decision.
— Charles Michel (@CharlesMichel) February 3, 2023
Your future is with us. Your destiny is our destiny.
That’s why we are here today. Standing by your side.@ZelenskyyUa #EUUkraine pic.twitter.com/c3uNs1GnGX
At the joint press conference in Kyiv, von der Leyen said there were goals for Ukraine to meet as part of its EU membership push.
Asked about Ukraine’s accession drive, she said:
There are no rigid timelines, but there are goals that you have to reach.
Zelenskiy: Ukraine will fight to hold on to 'fortress' Bakhmut
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said that Ukraine will continue to fight for Bakhmut as long as it can, vowing that “nobody will give away” the eastern “fortress” city.
Speaking at a news conference with top European Union officials, Zelenskiy said:
Nobody will give away Bakhmut. We will fight for as long as we can. We consider Bakhmut our fortress.
Ukraine would be able to hold Bakhmut and liberate occupied Donbas “if it received long-range weapons”, Zelenskiy added.
He said:
If weapons (supplies) are quickened, specifically long range weapons, we not only will not leave Bakhmut, but we will also begin to deoccupy Donbas, which has been occupied since 2014.
The city of Bakhmut in the eastern Donbas region has become the focal point of Ukrainian resistance and of intense efforts by Moscow to regain battlefield momentum.
Russian officials have said its forces are encircling Bakhmut from several directions and battling to take control of a road which is also an important supply route for Ukrainian forces.
Zelenskiy said Russia would continue to push in the east, but that Ukrainian forces would be able to hold out until more western weapons arrived.
Updated
Air raid sirens have sounded in Kyiv, my colleague Dan Sabbagh reports.
Air raid sirens on in Kyiv. Second time today. Should be sobering for EU leaders visiting.
— Dan Sabbagh (@dansabbagh) February 3, 2023
Updated
Here are some of the most recent images sent over the news wires from Kherson in Ukraine.
Updated
Ukraine’s state broadcaster Suspilne reports that at least one person has been killed by shelling in Donetsk. It posted to its official Telegram channel:
Russian troops shelled the centre of Toretsk in Donetsk region: one person was killed, six were injured. Kurakhivka was also shelled from artillery, three people were injured, the Donetsk regional prosecutor’s office reported.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Updated
Traders are using Turkey, Kazakhstan and Armenia to evade EU sanctions on Russia, a tactic that breaches these countries’ compliance with the bloc’s embargo, Latvia’s prime minister said on Friday.
Krisjanis Karins made the assertion after talks with counterparts from the EU member states Estonia and Lithuania, which along with Latvia have been among the most vocal supporters of sanctions on Russia after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
“It seems quite clear that traders are finding ways to legally trade goods, say with Turkey, Kazakhstan or Armenia, which are then re-sent to Russia, because these countries are not adhering to the sanctions regime,” Reuters says Karins told reporters in Talinn, the Estonian capital.
Updated
Back with the Olympics for a moment, the Associated Press is reporting that the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine has decided not to immediately boycott the Paris 2024 Games if Russian and Belarusian athletes are allowed to compete, but instead at its extraordinary general assembly held today, it approved plans to consult with and persuade sports officials around the world to take action over the next two months.
The committee members voted for “consultations on preventing the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in all international competitions and a possible boycott”.
Ukraine boycotted some sporting events last year rather than compete against Russians. The last multinational boycott of an Olympics was in 1998, when North Korea were joined by Cuba, Ethiopia and Nicaragua in boycotting the Seoul Olympics in South Korea.
Updated
The first task is to wipe off or cover up the Z, says Anatoly, 44, of the call sign infamously daubed on Russian hardware involved in the war in Ukraine. “We don’t want friendly fire later on.” Then the mechanics get to work.
In a secret location in Ukraine, within a vast warehouse that could be mistaken for a tank graveyard, what was once Russian – Soviet, in many cases – is being turned Ukrainian.
All the headlines have recently been made by the decision of Germany and a host of others to supply Ukraine with western heavy armour: Leopard 2s, Challengers and Abrams.
The names have become familiar and they may have the technical cutting-edge and firepower to turn the course of the Ukraine war, when they arrive and if in sufficient numbers.
But for all the efforts of the Nato allies, it is Russia that is unwittingly, and yet by some margin, Ukraine’s biggest donor of tanks today.
Oryx, the open-source Dutch intelligence defence analysis website, has collected photographs of 546 captured Russian tanks. It will be just a fraction of the total haul of tanks that were either abandoned by the fleeing Russian forces or seized in bloody battle.
Updated
The head of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games has said it is for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to decide whether Russian and Belarusian athletes can compete in the Games next year.
Tony Estanguet told Reuters he was “in favour of maintaining this symbol of universality for the Games” when asked about Russian and Belarusian participation.
The decision rested with the Games’ governing body, he added.
Estanguet said:
It’s not in the charge of Paris 2024 to decide who is allowed to participate, it’s about the IOC, it’s about the IPC, it’s about the international federations who will decide which delegations will be allowed to participate.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has called on the IOC to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing at the 2024 Paris Games. Allowing them to take part would be tantamount to showing that “terror is somehow acceptable”, Zelenskiy has said.
On Thursday, sports ministers from Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland called on international sports bodies to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing in the Olympics and other events while the war in Ukraine continues.
Poland’s sport and tourism minister, Kamil Bortniczuk, told Reuters he believed it would be possible to build a coalition of about 40 countries, including the US, Britain and Canada, supporting the call to block Russian and Belarusian athletes from the 2024 Olympics.
Updated
Here’s some more detail on the news that Ukraine has unveiled a criminal case against Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner group of mercenaries fighting on the Russian side in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Andriy Kostin, said in a statement that his office has served “a notice of suspicion to the head of the private military company ‘Wagner’”, without identifying Prigozhin by name.
He added:
The head of this group is directly responsible for thousands of war crimes. He openly admits his role in the war against Ukraine and, with the Kremlin’s permission, resolves staff issues by recruiting tens of thousands of prisoners.
Under Ukraine’s criminal code, suspects in criminal cases must be informed in a “notice of suspicion”.
Kostin listed accusations against Wagner, including encroachment on Ukraine’s territorial integrity and waging an aggressive war. He added that Wagner fighters of all ranks would be held responsible, including those who fled abroad.
He added:
I am certain together with international partners we will ensure comprehensive responsibility both for every criminal who came to our land with weapons in his hands and also for their patrons who do business in blood.
Updated
Germany will not play key role in transfer of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, says Kuleba
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has said Germany will not play a “key” role in the transfer of F-16 fighter jets to Kyiv because “it is American technology”.
The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, ruled out sending fighter jets to Ukraine earlier this week, saying his focus was on the delivery of German-made Leopard 2 tanks.
In an interview with BBC News Ukraine, Kuleba said his country “really needs” planes and long-range missiles “to destroy the military infrastructure of the Russian occupying forces” in occupied territories of Ukraine.
He said he had “no doubt” that the decision to supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets would be made, adding that Kyiv was “open to communication with all partners” on aircraft such as the Swedish Gripens, French Mirages and Rafales.
Asked about Scholz’s role, Kuleba said the issue of jets “is far from Germany”. He said:
Why was the position of Germany and Chancellor Scholz important regarding Leopard tanks? It is a [mass-produced] tank, but it is German technology, so Germany’s word was key.
In the issue of aircraft, Germany’s word is not key, because it is American technology.
Updated
Among the blizzard of announcements aimed at showing the EU’s support for Kyiv, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said Europe is “bringing light to Ukraine”.
Von der Leyen has confirmed the EU will supply Ukraine with 35m LED lightbulbs, 2,400 generators on top of 3,000 already delivered and promised funding for solar panels to power Ukraine’s public buildings.
Together, we are bringing light to Ukraine!⁰
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) February 3, 2023
Ukrainians can exchange their old bulbs at the post office for energy-efficient LED bulbs.
The EU is gladly providing 35 million of them.
Every kW of energy saved is precious to counter Russia's energy war. pic.twitter.com/dkKpSRH6yv
Ukraine’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, said he was “grateful” to Von der Leyen.
Thanks to 🇪🇺, the programme to replace old light bulbs with energy-saving LED bulbs started this week. In the first 3 days, @ukrposhta has already replaced more than 750K bulbs. Next week, another 6M will be distributed in 🇺🇦 regions. Grateful to @vonderleyen for the initiative. pic.twitter.com/ZqvY7bFE0z
— Denys Shmyhal (@Denys_Shmyhal) February 3, 2023
Updated
EU to launch humanitarian de-mining programme
The EU will launch a humanitarian de-mining programme in Ukraine worth €25m, the bloc’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has confirmed.
De-mining is “crucial to save the lives of civilian population”, Borrell wrote on social media.
Demining action is crucial to safe the lives of civilian population, to allow them return to a normal life, to prevent the random walk of the death in the forest.
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) February 3, 2023
The EU will support Ukraine with a new €25 million package for humanitarian demining.https://t.co/udiK4YOL6F pic.twitter.com/Gp9H7qIgMz
Ukraine’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, announced the programme after meeting with Borrell in Kyiv yesterday, posting to Telegram that it was an “important component of our recovery, which will allow us to return normal life”.
Updated
Norway has confirmed it will order 54 new German-made Leopard 2 tanks for its army from the Krauss-Maffei Wegmann Group, with an option to buy a further 18 tanks at a later time.
Speaking at a news conference, the Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre said:
We ensure that we have the same tanks as our Nordic neighbours and many key Nato allies.
This “further strengthens our relationship with Germany”, he added.
Norway, which shares a 196km (122-mile) Arctic border with Russia, had planned to either order German-made Leopard 2 A7 tanks or the Korean-produced K2 Black Panther.
Updated
Norwegian police say they intend to continue to interrogate a former commander with the Russian mercenary Wagner group who sought asylum in Norway after fighting in Ukraine.
Andrey Medvedev, who had previously told the Guardian he feared for his life and that he had witnessed the summary killing of Wagner fighters, has handed “some digital material” to police, Norway’s national criminal police service, Kripos, said in a statement. The material was being examined, it added.
Medvedev remains a witness and is not under any obligation to talk to investigators, Kripos said, adding that he “gives the impression that he wants to continue to say more” about his time with Wagner.
Medvedev is the first known soldier from the Wagner group who fought in Ukraine to flee abroad.
Security arrangements have also been made for Medvedev’s safety, “both visible and non-visible” measures, Kripos added.
Updated
European Council president Charles Michel is in Kyiv, along with the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and 15 European commissioners to meet President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for what they describe as a summit meeting.
The highly symbolic visit is the first EU political mission of its kind to a country at war, and comes as the bloc prepares to adopt a 10th package of sanctions against Russia.
“There will be no let-up in our resolve,” Michel tweeted as he arrived in the Ukrainian capital. He added:
We will also support you every step of the way on your journey to the EU.
Back in Kyiv for the EU-#Ukraine Summit with @ZelenskyyUa @vonderleyen and @JosepBorrellF
— Charles Michel (@CharlesMichel) February 3, 2023
There will be no let up in our resolve.
We will also support you every step of the way on your journey to the EU. pic.twitter.com/3fnmajrtAZ
Updated
Germany approves Leopard 1 tank deliveries to Ukraine
Germany has approved a delivery of Leopard 1 main battle tanks to Ukraine from industrial stocks, government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit has said.
Hebestreit confirmed “an export licence has been issued” for the delivery by a private arms-marker of its older Leopard 1 tanks, but did not provide further details.
Süddeutsche Zeitung had reported that the German government approved German arms maker Rheinmetall’s plans to sell 88 of the older Leopards to Ukraine for a total cost of more than €100m.
Deliveries of the older Leopard 1 tanks from the industrial stocks could be made as soon as the tanks are repaired, the paper writes. However, there are still problems in obtaining the required 105-millimetre ammunition, it writes.
It comes after the German government announced it would send 14 Leopard 2 main battle tanks from Bundeswehr stocks to Ukraine.
Berlin is also considering buying back 15 Gepard tanks it had sold to Qatar, the German newspaper reported. It said several German officials had discussed with Qatar’s foreign ministry the possible purchase of Gepard tanks that Doha had bought to secure the World Cup stadiums.
The paper quoted Germany’s defence minister, Boris Pistorius, as saying:
The Gepards have proven themselves very well in the war in Ukraine. If we could get more from partners here, that would definitely help the Ukrainians.
Hello everyone. It’s Léonie Chao-Fong here again, taking over the live blog from Martin Belam. Feel free to get in touch on Twitter or via email.
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Summary of the day so far …
Top EU officials are due to meet on Friday in Kyiv with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, and the European Council president, Charles Michel, as well as 15 European commissioners, traveled to the Ukrainian capital for ‘a summit meeting’. Von der Leyen is on her fourth visit to Kyiv since Russia’s invasion.
EU leaders will seek to cool Ukraine’s expectations of a fast track to membership, while avoiding negative public statements that could weaken morale and damage Zelenskiy’s efforts to project a European future for Ukrainians. Western EU member states are concerned that Kyiv’s expectations on speedy membership talks are unrealistic.
Zelenskiy called on Thursday for more punitive measures against Russia by the EU, but sanctions being prepared by the bloc for the anniversary will fall short of his government’s demands. “We see today that the pace of sanctions in Europe has slowed down a little,” Zelenskiy told a joint news conference. “The terrorist state increases the pace of adaptation to sanctions instead. It should be resolved. We believe that we can do it together.”
Maria Zakharova, the Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, responded to the Ukrainian president’s comments on Friday, saying: “Western Europe, falling into recession, having long lost the habit of survival, is sinking, with Ukraine tied to its feet.”
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 it will “stand by Ukraine for the long haul”. 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 prosecutor general’s office of Ukraine has pressed criminal charges against Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner group of mercenaries fighting on the Russian side in Ukraine. Prigozhin has been charged with encroaching on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine and of waging a war of aggression against Ukraine.
There are reports that one person has been killed in a car bomb explosion in occupied Enerhodar in Zaporizhzhia region. Dmitri Orlov, Ukraine’s mayor of the city, claimed the victim was a former Ukrainian policeman who had defected to help the authorities in the area of Ukraine which the Russian Federation has claimed to annex.
The Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, has this morning said the war will continue in Ukraine as Donbas is not “fully protected yet”.
Russian-installed authorities in Crimea said on Friday they had nationalised about 500 properties in the peninsula, including some belonging to senior Ukrainian politicians and business figures.
Nato called on Russia to fulfil its obligations under the Start nuclear reductions treaty, it said in a statement on Friday.
Norway will order 54 new German-made Leopard tanks for its army from the KraussMaffei group, the Norwegian public broadcaster NRK reported on Friday.
That is it from me, Martin Belam, for now. I will be back later. Léonie Chao-Fong will be with you for the next few hours.
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The Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, has this morning said the war will continue in Ukraine as Donbas is not ‘fully protected yet’.
The Russian state-owned news agency Tass quotes him as saying:
Donbas is not fully protected yet, so a special military operation continues. Actually, we must protect the people who live there until this goal is fully achieved. This remains to be done.
Peskov went on to say that “the security of Crimea is ensured reliably”. Russia claimed to annex the Ukrainian region of Crimea in 2014 in a move not widely recognised by the international community.
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The air alert that has been in force across Ukraine for nearly the last two hours has ended, the state broadcaster Suspilne reports.
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Nato called on Russia to fulfil its obligations under the Start nuclear reductions treaty, it said in a statement on Friday.
“We note with concern that Russia has failed to comply with legally binding obligations, including on inspection, and call on Russia to fulfil its obligations under the Treaty,” Reuters reports Nato’s secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, said in a tweet.
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The main event in Kyiv today is that top European Union officials are due to meet Friday in Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel, as well as 15 European commissioners, traveled to the Ukrainian capital for what they described as a summit meeting. Von der Leyen is on her fourth visit to Kyiv since Russia’s invasion.
Susie Blann at Associated Press writes that the last such summit was held in Kyiv in October 2021 — a few months before Russia’s latest incursion into Ukraine. Since then, assistance for Ukraine from the EU has reached almost €50bn (£44.6bn / $55bn) since the fighting started. The EU is providing Ukraine with financial and humanitarian aid and plans to adopt a 10th package of sanctions again Russia in the coming weeks – the pace of which has been criticised by Zelenskiy.
Ukraine wants to join the 27-nation bloc on an accelarated timescale, though it could take years. In the meantime, von der Leyen said Thursday that the European Commission is willing to let Kyiv join what she called some “key European programs” that will bring benefits similar to membership. Those programs were due to be discussed in Friday’s meeting, which will also address one of the main obstacles to Ukraine’s EU membership: accusations of endemic corruption.
Norway will order 54 new German-made Leopard tanks for its army from the KraussMaffei Group, Norwegian public broadcaster NRK reported on Friday, citing anonymous sources.
Reuters reports the Nordic Nato member, which shares a 196 km (122 miles) Arctic border with Russia, had planned to choose either German-made Leopard 2 A7 tanks or the rival Korean-produced K2 Black Panther.
Russian-installed authorities in Crimea said on Friday that they had nationalised around 500 properties in the peninsula including some belonging to senior Ukrainian politicians and business figures.
In a statement on Telegram, Vladimir Konstantinov, speaker of the Crimean parliament, said that the decree targeted “accomplices of the Kyiv regime” and that the nationalised properties included banks and tourist and sport infrastructure.
Reuters reports that according to a document published on a Crimean government website, properties belonging to former Ukrainian prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and businessmen Igor Kolomoisky, Rinat Akhmetov and Serhiy Taruta were among those confiscated.
Crimea, which is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, has been controlled by Moscow since 2014, when Russia unilaterally annexed the peninsula.
Ukraine presses criminal charges against Wagner group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin
The prosecutor general’s office of Ukraine has pressed criminal charges against Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner group of mercenaries fighting on the Russian side in Ukraine.
The Ukrinform website reports that the statement was published in the Uriadovyi Kuryer government gazette.
Prigozhin has been charged with encroaching on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine (Article 110 part 3 of the criminal code of Ukraine) and of waging a war of aggression against Ukraine (Article 437 [art 2).
In a grim video released over new year, Prigozhin – a long-term ally of Putin – was filmed visiting a basement near the eastern front in Ukraine filled with the bodies of his fighters, many of them convicts, who had been killed during the bitter fighting for the city of Bakhmut, a key Russian objective.
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There are reports that one person has been killed in a car bomb explosion in occupied Enerhodar in Zaporizhzhia region. The Russian state-owned news agency Tass is quoting Vladimir Rogov, leader of the pro-Russian We are together with Russia movement in occupied Ukraine.
He reported on Telegram: “It’s loud in Enerhodar. The cause of the explosion that sounded this morning in the city was a car explosion. According to preliminary data, one person died as a result of the terrorist attack. The fire has now been extinguished. Pyrotechnic teams are checking for the presence of explosives to prevent another explosion.”
Enerhodar is the city adjacent to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
Dmitri Orlov, Ukraine’s mayor of the city, also posted to Telegram about the incident. He reported that the victim was a former Ukrainian policeman who had defected to work for the occupying Russian authorities. Zaporizhzhia is one of the regions of Ukraine which the Russian Federation has claimed to annex.
In his message, Orlov implied that the policemen had been targeted because of criminal and corrupt activities among the occupiers, writing:
Since the beginning of March last year and until now, Enerhodar has been a city where the occupiers have been active in criminal activities: they torture and capture people, rob the city’s residents and entire businesses. But they put in their pockets a part of what they receive from the Russian Federation to provide for their needs. Living Rashists do not need … witnesses. Therefore, they will continue to carry out similar “cleanings”. And the first one has already left.
None of the claims by either Rogov or Orlov have been independently verified.
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Maria Zakharova, the Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, has posted to Telegram, responding to the Ukrainian president’s comments about the slowing down of western sanctions on Russia.
She quotes the media saying “Zelenskiy complained that the pace of sanctions in Europe has slowed down, and Russia has become faster to adapt to restrictions” and goes on to write:
Western Europe, falling into recession, having long lost the habit of survival, is sinking, with Ukraine tied to its feet.
Ukraine’s state broadcaster Suspilne offers this summary of the last 24 hours in its latest bulletin on Telegram. It writes:
At night, the Russian military attacked the Barvinkove community in the Kharkiv region. A private house was destroyed and a 70-year-old man was rescued from the rubble. Two men died.
Also at night, the Russian army shelled Kherson. They hit one of the shopping centres, a fire started there. People were not injured. Nikopol in the Dnipropetrovsk region also came under fire. There are no dead or injured.
Over the past 24 hours, one person was killed by Russian shelling in Donetsk region, and eight others were injured. In the Kherson region, two people were killed in a day, nine more were injured, among them a five-year-old child.
The claims have not been independently verified.
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Here are two images sent over the news wires from Kramatorsk, showing search and rescue operations taking place yesterday. Three people died, eight people were hospitalised with injuries, including two who are in a serious condition, after a building was struck by a Russian missile.
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Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, reports the latest status update from Ukraine’s regional authority in partially occupied Kherson, one of the areas the Russian Federation claims to have annexed. Suspilne posted to its official Telegram channel:
During the day of 2 February, the Russian occupiers shelled Kherson oblast 65 times with artillery, anti-aircraft guns, mortars, and tanks. Kherson – 13 times. They targeted a shipbuilding plant, a school and residential buildings. Two people died, nine were injured. Among the injured was a five-year-old boy.
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EU leaders to dampen Ukraine’s hopes of fast-track EU membership
EU leaders will seek to cool Ukraine’s expectations of a fast track to membership at a summit with Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday, as the bloc spars over how much encouragement to give its war-torn neighbour.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the head of the European Council, Charles Michel, are due to meet Zelenskiy in Kyiv on Friday for wide-ranging talks on the war, further sanctions on Russia and integrating Ukraine into the EU’s internal market.
It is understood that the EU leaders will seek in private to temper Ukraine’s expectations of a fast-tracked membership, while avoiding negative public statements that could weaken morale and damage Zelenskiy’s efforts to project a European future for Ukrainians.
Western EU member states are concerned that Kyiv’s expectations on speedy membership talks are unrealistic. Earlier this week, Ukraine’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, told Politico his country had “a very ambitious plan to join the European Union within the next two years”.
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For this Friday’s must-read: Guardian correspondents have looked into how Putin’s plans to blackmail Europe over gas supply failed:
The worst-case scenarios piled up over the summer months. Germany’s economic minister warned of “catastrophic” industrial shutdowns, fraying supply chains and mass unemployment. France’s president urged citizens to turn down the heating. Spain asked why countries that hadn’t got hooked on Russian gas should bail out neighbours who had lectured them about fiscal discipline in the past.
The former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, meanwhile, gleefully predicted that Europeans would be “freezing in their homes” because they hadn’t thought through the consequences of throwing their support behind Ukraine. “The cold is coming soon,” he said, menacingly, in June last year.
But as the European Union enters the last month of the meteorological winter in 2023, signs are becoming clearer that its members have weathered a historic crisis – and not just because “General Frost” has proved a milder adversary than Medvedev predicted.
Within eight months of Russian troops setting foot on Ukrainian soil, the bloc of 27 European states replaced about 80% of the natural gas it used to draw through pipelines with Russia, by rapidly building up new infrastructure for liquid natural gas, finding creative ways to help each other out amid shortages, and successfully pursuing energy-saving policies.
Read the full story at the link below:
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The US Central Intelligence Agency director, William Burns, said on Thursday that the Chinese president Xi Jinping’s ambitions toward Taiwan should not be underestimated, despite him likely being sobered by the performance of Russia’s military in Ukraine.
Burns said the United States knew “as a matter of intelligence” that Xi had ordered his military to be ready to conduct an invasion of self-governed Taiwan by 2027.
“Now, that does not mean that he’s decided to conduct an invasion in 2027, or any other year, but it’s a reminder of the seriousness of his focus and his ambition,” Burns told an event at Georgetown University in Washington.
“Our assessment at CIA is that I wouldn’t underestimate President Xi’s ambitions with regard to Taiwan,” he said, adding that the Chinese leader was likely “surprised and unsettled” and trying to draw lessons by the “very poor performance” of the Russian military and its weapons systems in Ukraine.
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Ukraine’s allies are pushing the International Monetary Fund to finalise plans for a multibillion-dollar lending programme, the Financial Times reported on Friday.
IMF representatives are planning to meet Ukrainian officials in mid-February to advance discussions over a loan that could range from $14bn to $16bn, the report said, citing officials familiar with the talks.
Zelenskiy pushes for 10th sanctions package from EU leaders meeting in Kyiv
European Union leaders will meet the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in Kyiv today, bringing the promise of new sanctions against Russia but likely dashing Ukraine’s hope for swift EU membership, Reuters reports.
The head of the group’s executive commission, Ursula von der Leyen, arrived in Kyiv by train on Thursday, a symbolic journey to demonstrate support for Ukraine as the first anniversary of Russia’s 24 February 2022 invasion approaches.
Senior members of the EU’s executive met their counterparts in the Ukrainian government, and von der Leyen and the chairman of the 27 EU national leaders, Charles Michel, will convene talks with Zelenskiy on Friday.
Zelenskiy called for more punitive measures against Russia by the EU, but new sanctions the bloc is preparing for the anniversary will fall short of his government’s demands.
“We see today that the pace of sanctions in Europe has slowed down a little,” Zelensky told a joint news conference alongside European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen. “The terrorist state increases the pace of adaptation to sanctions instead. It should be resolved. We believe that we can do it together.”
“Russia is paying a heavy price, as our sanctions are eroding its economy, throwing it back by a generation,” Von der Leyen said on Thursday. “By 24 February, exactly one year since the invasion started, we aim to have the 10th package of sanctions in place.”
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Welcome and summary
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine. My name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the latest for the next while.
Our top story this morning: European Union leaders will meet Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv on Friday, bringing the promise of new sanctions against Russia but likely dashing Ukraine and its president’s hopes of swift EU membership.
“Russia is paying a heavy price, as our sanctions are eroding its economy, throwing it back by a generation,” Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday. “By 24 February, exactly one year since the invasion started, we aim to have the 10th package of sanctions in place.”
Here are the other key recent developments – including what has happened so far at the talks between EU leaders and Zelenskiy:
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 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 10th 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 on a price cap on crude oil that came into force last December and, according to Von der Leyen, costs Russia €160m (£143m/$174m) a day. The EU’s 27 member states are yet to agree on the latest oil price cap.
The EU also intended 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 was to collect and store evidence for any future trial, whether that took place via a special tribunal or some other way.
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.
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. Zelenskiy 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 British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, said sending fighter jets to Ukraine would require “months if not years” of training and that he was looking for the most effective way of helping Kyiv secure victory.
Russia is planning a major offensive to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine on 24 February, according to Ukraine’s defence minister. Speaking to French media, Oleksii Reznikov said 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 that “those who expect to win on the battlefield apparently do not understand that a modern war with Russia will be utterly different for them”.
Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has said Russia’s arms suppliers will “significantly” increase their deliveries of military hardware during this year. Medvedev, who is deputy chairman of Russia’s 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 on Wednesday night, killing at least killing three people and injuring 20. The latest strikes resulted in civilian casualties, said the head of the regional military administration, Pavlo Kyrylenko, but it was not clear how many. In addition, two people were killed by Russian shelling in the southern Kherson region.
At least eight people 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 is 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.
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