Ukraine and its Western allies are engaged in “fast-track” talks on the possibility of equipping the invaded country with long-range missiles and military aircraft, a top Ukrainian presidential aide said Saturday. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said Ukraine’s supporters in the West “understand how the war is developing” and the need to supply planes capable of providing cover for the armored fighting vehicles that the US and Germany pledged at the beginning of the month. Stay with TOI for all updates.Read Less
Four people died and five were injured when Ukrainian forces attacked a bridge in southeastern Ukraine’s Melitopol district, Russian-backed authorities said on Sunday.
Russia’s Lavrov urges ‘maximum responsibility’ in calls with Israeli, Palestinian counterparts
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged “maximum responsibility” in calls with his Israeli and Palestinian counterparts following recent attacks in Jerusalem, the foreign ministry in Moscow said Sunday. Lavrov “called on the Israeli and Palestinian partners to show maximum responsibility and refrain from any actions that could provoke further degradation of the situation” in phone calls with Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and Palestinian counterpart Riyad al-Maliki, the ministry said in a statement.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the situation at the front as “extremely acute”, especially in the eastern Donetsk region where Russia is stepping up an offensive.
Russia accused the Ukrainian military of deliberately striking a hospital in a Russian-held area of eastern Ukraine on Saturday in what it said was a war crime that killed 14 people and wounded 24 patients and medical staff.
Ukraine has said that the Russian offensive on Bakhmut has not culminated, but the situation along the front line there has been growingly difficult. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday that it was acute.
Ukraine says repelled attack near Blahodatne, Russia’s Wagner claims control
Ukraine’s military said Sunday its forces repelled an attack near Blahodatne in the eastern Donetsk region after Russia’s Wagner mercenary group claimed it took control of the village. Kyiv’s forces “repelled attacks near… Blahodatne” and 13 other settlements in the Donetsk region, the Ukrainian General Staff said in its daily report.
Tearful mourners remember British volunteer killed in eastern Ukraine
Tearful mourners in Kyiv on Sunday commemorated a British volunteer killed while attempting a rescue mission from the eastern Ukrainian town of Soledar.British voluntary aid worker Andrew Bagshaw, for whom the service was held, and fellow volunteer Chris Parry, were killed during an attempted humanitarian evacuation in eastern Ukraine, Parry’s family has said.
Russians gone from Ukraine village, fear and hardship remain
When night falls in Tatiana Trofimenko’s village in southern Ukraine, she pours sunflower oil that aid groups gave her into a jar and seals it with a wick-fitted lid. A flick of a match, and the make-do candle is lit. It has been over 11 weeks since Ukrainian forces wrested back her village in Kherson province from Russian occupation. But liberation has not diminished the hardship for residents of Kalynivske, both those returning home and the ones who never left. In the peak of winter, the remote area not far from an active front line has no power or water. The sounds of war are never far.
North Korea denies arms dealing with Russia
North Korea on Sunday denied providing arms to Moscow after the United States said the nuclear-armed state supplied rockets and missiles to Russia’s private military group Wagner. Washington earlier this month designated the Wagner group as a “transnational criminal organisation”, citing its weapons dealings with Pyongyang in violation of UN Security Council resolutions. The White House showed US intelligence photographs of Russian rail cars entering North Korea, picking up a load of infantry rockets and missiles, and returning to Russia, according to national security spokesman John Kirby.
Ukraine says repels attack around Blahodatne while Russia's Wagner claims control
Ukraine’s military said on Sunday its forces repelled an attack in the area of Blahodatne in the eastern part of the Donetsk region, while Russia’s Wagner private military group said it took control of the village. “Units of Ukraine’s Defence Forces repelled the attacks of the occupiers in the areas of … Blahodatne … in the Donetsk region,” the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said in its daily morning report, referring to fighting on Saturday. It added that its forces repelled Russian attacks in the areas of 13 other settlements in the Donetsk region. The Wagner Group, designated by the United States as transnational criminal organisation, said on the Telegram messaging app on Saturday that its units had taken control of Blahodatne.
The Ukrainian foreign ministry said it would summon Hungary’s ambassador to complain about Orban’s remarks. A ministry spokesperson, Oleg Nikolenko, said Orban told reporters that Ukraine was “a no-man’s land” and compared it to Afghanistan. “Such statements are completely unacceptable. Budapest continues on its course to deliberately destroy Ukrainian-Hungarian relations,” Nikolenko said in a Facebook post.
Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban asserted Friday that Western countries providing weapons and money to assist Ukraine in its war with Russia have ‘drifted’ into becoming active participants in the conflict. Orban has refused to send weapons to neighboring Ukraine and sought to block EU funds earmarked for military aid.
The US and Germany agreed Wednesday to share advanced tanks with Ukraine along with the Bradley and Marder vehicles promised earlier, a decision that led to criticism not only from the Kremlin but from the prime minister of Nato and European Union member Hungary.
“We must speak reasonably and tell them, for example, ‘This and this will reduce fatalities, this will reduce the burden on infrastructure. This will reduce security threats to the European continent, this will keep the war localized.’ And we are doing it.”
Russia and North Korea have accused the West of prolonging and taking a direct role in the war by sending Kyiv increasingly sophisticated weapons. “We need to work with this. We must show (our partners) the real picture of this war,” Podolyak said, without naming specific countries.
However, in remarks to online video channel Freedom, Podolyak said that some of Ukraine’s Western partners maintain a “conservative” attitude to arms deliveries, “due to fear of changes in the international architecture”.
Ukraine and its Western allies are engaged in “fast-track” talks on the possibility of equipping the invaded country with long-range missiles and military aircraft, a top Ukrainian presidential aide said on Saturday. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said Ukraine’s supporters in the West “understand how the war is developing” and the need to supply planes capable of providing cover for the armoured fighting vehicles that the United States and Germany pledged at the beginning of the month. (AP)
Ukraine has sanctioned hundreds of Russian and Belarusian individuals and firms since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February last year.
The sanctioned companies chiefly engage in the transportation of goods, vehicle leasing and chemical production, according to the list published by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine. The list includes Russian potash fertiliser producer and exporter Uralkali, Belarus state-owned potash producer Belaruskali, Belarusian Railways, as well as Russia’s VTB-Leasing and Gazprombank Leasing both dealing with transport leasing.
Ukraine imposed sanctions against 182 Russian and Belarusian companies, and three individuals, in the latest of a series of steps by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to block Moscow’s and Minsk’s connections to his country. “Their assets in Ukraine are blocked, their properties will be used for our defence,” Zelenskyy said in a video address. (Reuters)
Earlier this week, US President Joe Biden promised 31 Abrams tanks, one of the most powerful and sophisticated weapons in the US army, to help Kyiv fight off Moscow’s invasion. The move drew a rebuke Friday from Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who accused Washington of “further crossing the red line” by sending the tanks into Ukraine.
In a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, a senior North Korean official rejected the accusations, warning that the US will face a “really undesirable result” if it persists in spreading the “self-made rumour”. “Trying to tarnish the image of (North Korea) by fabricating a non-existent thing is a grave provocation that can never be allowed and that cannot but trigger its reaction,” said Kwon Jong Gun, director general of the Department of US Affairs. He also called it “a foolish attempt to justify its offer of weapons to Ukraine”.
The White House showed US intelligence photographs of Russian rail cars entering North Korea, picking up a load of infantry rockets and missiles, and returning to Russia, according to national security spokesman John Kirby.
North Korea on Sunday denied providing arms to Moscow after the United States said the nuclear-armed state supplied rockets and missiles to Russia’s private military group Wagner. Washington earlier this month designated the Wagner group as a “transnational criminal organization,” citing its weapons dealings with Pyongyang in violation of UN Security Council resolutions. (AFP)
Germany’s defence minister this week ruled out the idea of sending jets to Ukraine
F-16s might be the best option for a multi-role fighter to replace the country’s current fleet of ageing Soviet-era warplanes: Ukrainian air force spokesperson
Earlier in the day, the Ukrainian air force denied a newspaper report that it intended to get 24 fighter jets from allies, saying talks were continuing
Zelenskyy said Ukraine needed the US-made ATACMS missile, which has a range of 297km
Ukraine in talks with allies about getting long-range missiles
Expedited talks are under way among Kyiv and its allies about Ukraine’s requests for long-range missiles that it says are needed to prevent Russia from destroying Ukrainian cities, a top aide to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday.