The intensity of Russia’s military actions, both on the ground in eastern Ukraine and via Friday’s massive missile barrage, seems to be rising as the invasion’s one-year mark approaches.
(Bloomberg) — The intensity of Russia’s military actions, both on the ground in eastern Ukraine and via Friday’s massive missile barrage, seems to be rising as the invasion’s one-year mark approaches.
Top US and Ukrainian military leaders spoke ahead of Tuesday’s meeting of the Ramstein group of allied nations in Brussels. A NATO defense ministerial will follow, as well as the Munich Security Conference that starts Friday. Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven will reportedly also meet during the Munich event.
Russia on Friday launched its biggest barrage of missile attacks so far this year as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy seeks more weapons to fend off Vladimir Putin’s invasion. Moody’s Investors Service on Friday cut Ukraine’s credit rating to the second-lowest score, citing “long-lasting challenges” to its economy and public finances from the war with Russia.
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Key Developments
- Macron’s Meloni Snub Lays Bare the Strain on France-Italy Ties
- Russia Seeks to Gradually Cut Discount to Brent for Tax Purposes
- Ukraine Credit Rating Cut by Moody’s on ‘Likely’ Restructuring
- Russian Moms-to-Be Flock to Argentina Seeking Safety, Passports
- For Fear or Money, Consumer Giants Are Staying in Russia
On The Ground
Dozens of settlements in Donetsk, Luhansk, Sumy, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Mykolayiv and Kherson regions were shelled Saturday with rockets, aviation strikes and drones, the Ukrainian General Staff said. Three rockets hit Kharkiv infrastructure late Saturday, injuring a civilian. Civilian infrastructure was also damaged in Kherson with one injury reported. Five drones were shot down, according to General Staff. Russian troops focus its main efforts on offensive actions in the Kupyansk, Lyman, Bakhmut and Avdiyivska directions in eastern Ukraine, using planes to strike the positions of Kyiv’s troops.
(All times CET)
Berlusconi Blames Zelenskiy for Ukraine’s Plight (8:15 p.m.)
Silvio Berlusconi, who heads the Forza Italia junior party in Italy’s coalition government, said Zelenskiy was prolonging Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and blamed the Ukrainian president in part for his country’s devastation.
“If he had not attacked the two autonomous republics of Donbas this would have not happened,” the Ansa newswire cited Berlusconi as saying in Milan. “I have a very negative view of his behavior.” He was referring areas of eastern Ukraine controlled by Russian-backed separatists.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government reiterated its full support of Ukraine after the former premier’s remarks. A Berlusconi spokesperson declined to comment.
Ukraine Minister Calls on FATF to Expel Russia (5:25 p.m.)
Russia should be expelled from the 37-member Financial Action Task Force, a global group that aims to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, Ukraine’s finance minister wrote in a Financial Times op-ed.
Blacklisting Russia “would create universal controls and require enhanced due diligence,” Serhiy Marchenko wrote. “Any transaction with the Russian financial system would be reviewed and scrutinized.”
The Paris-based group will have working meetings starting Feb 20 that run through Feb 24, the one-year mark of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
G-7 Foreign Ministers to Meet During Munich Conference (1 p.m.)
Foreign ministers of the Group of Seven nations will discuss Ukraine on Feb. 18, coinciding with the Feb. 17-19 Munich Security Conference, Japan’s Yomiuri Shinbun reported, citing government sources it didn’t identify.
The ministers in Munich are expected to discuss measures to back Ukraine and tighten sanctions against Russia, the newspaper said.
Japan holds the rotating presidency of the G-7 this year. The next formal foreign ministers’ meeting is scheduled for mid-April.
Russia Wants to Gradually Cut Crude Discount to Brent (12:15 p.m.)
Russia is seeking to gradually narrow the discount on its key export crude oil to the Brent benchmark as the government tries to boost budget revenues amid sanctions.
The government proposes to limit the discount on Urals to Brent at $34 a barrel in April, $31 in May and $28 in June to calculate mineral extraction tax and profit-based tax. From July 1 the discount will be set at $25.
Read more: Russia Seeks to Gradually Cut Discount to Brent for Tax Purposes
Germany Wants Shared Refugee Burden (12:30 p.m.)
Germany’s interior minister called for support for Ukrainian refugees to be better shared among EU countries.
“Should there be another large wave of people fleeing Ukraine, the refugees should be better spread out in Europe,” Nancy Faeser told the newspaper Bild am Sonntag ahead of a summit of German officials Thursday on displaced persons.
“To date, Poland has taken in over 1.5 million Ukrainian refugees and Spain has only 160,000. It can’t remain like this,” she said. Germany in 2022 took in over 244,000 refugees, the most since 2016.
Many Consumer Giants Are Staying in Russia (12 p.m.)
As the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine nears the one-year mark, many goods continue to be supplied by US and European companies with outposts in Russia, including Colgate, Procter & Gamble and L’Oréal.
Should these firms change their mind about staying in the face of mounting legal and reputational risks, they now have another challenge: the Kremlin is making it more expensive to leave.
While there are no Western sanctions on the everyday consumer sector, restrictions on Russian banks and individuals have made operating in the country more difficult.
Read more: For Fear or Money, Consumer Giants Are Staying in Russia
No Electricity Usage Limits On Sunday, Grid Operator Says (11 a.m.)
Ukraine started the day with no household electricity shortages, grid operator Ukrenergo said on Telegram, after round-the-clock repair work and the resumption of operations at two atomic power plants.
Restoration work continues at thermal power plants damaged during recent Russian missile and drone attacks. The company warned that should consumption increase too much, emergency shutdowns are still possible in the Odesa, Kyiv, Khmelnitskiy and Zhytomyr regions.
Reznikov Sees No Chance of Russia Storming Odesa By Sea or Land (10:30 a.m.)
Ukraine’s defense chief discounted the possibility of Russia storming Odesa by sea or land, according to a Ukrainian Navy post on Facebook.
In order to threaten the key Black Sea port city, Russia “needs to have dominance on the Black Sea,” which Kyiv undermined with its sinking of the warship Moskva in the spring, Oleksii Resnikov said.
“Russia failed to approach to the city by land and now they are thrown back to the left bank of the Dnipro, which together with destroyed bridges and crossings is a powerful natural protective barrier,” he said.
Russian Casualties Likely at Highest Rate Since February, UK Says (8 a.m.)
The UK defense ministry in a Twitter update said that over the past two weeks, “Russia has likely suffered its highest rate of casualties since the first week of the invasion” as poorly trained and under-resourced troops increasingly take to the battlefield.
As estimated by Ukraine, which the UK said it can’t verify but “are likely accurate,” the mean average of Russian casualties in the past seven days has climbed to 824. Ukraine is also seeing a high attrition rate, the UK added.
US, Ukraine Defense Chiefs Speak Ahead of Ramstein (7 a.m.)
Ukraine’s defense minister spoke with his US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ahead of a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group.
The Ramstein meeting, named for a US air base in Germany, will be held Tuesday at NATO headquarters in Brussels. A NATO defense ministerial meeting is scheduled for Wednesday. Austin and Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, will attend.
“We discussed the current situation at the front, the urgent needs of the defense forces of Ukraine and priorities” for the meeting, Ukraine’s Oleksii Reznikov said on Twitter.
Ukraine Pushes for Sanctions on Russian Atomic Industry (7 a.m.)
UN’s nuclear agency, which currency las missions at all Ukrainian nuclear power plants, should help to accelerate the process of imposing sanctions on Russian nuclear industry, Ukraine’s energy minister said on Facebook after meeting with one of acting IAEA experts group.
“Russia must strictly answer for the seizure of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, for missiles and drones near nuclear power facilities, and for neglect of international principles of nuclear and radiation safety,” Herman Halushchenko added.
Zaluzhnyi Tells US Joint Chiefs’ Milley That Ukraine Still Holds Bakhmut (5:40 p.m.)
Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, spoke Saturday with Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff. The previous announced call between the pair was on Jan. 25.
Milley and Zaluzhnyi discussed Friday’s massive Russian missile barrage, air defense for Ukraine, and Russia’s use of underwater drones that may threaten the Black Sea safe-transit corridor, according to a Twitter post.
Kremlin forces are attacking Ukrainian positions as many as 50 times a day in the Donetsk region, Zaluzhnyi told Milley. The Ukrainian commander also said his forces “continue to hold Bakhmut under our control.”
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