President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met in Kyiv with top European Union officials, focusing on Ukraine’s potentially years-long effort to join the bloc. The Czech Republic’s incoming president said the only limit to weapons deliveries should be nuclear arms, signaling support for sending fighter jets.
(Bloomberg) — President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met in Kyiv with top European Union officials, focusing on Ukraine’s potentially years-long effort to join the bloc. The Czech Republic’s incoming president said the only limit to weapons deliveries should be nuclear arms, signaling support for sending fighter jets.
“I believe that we shouldn’t put any cap on equipment,” Petr Pavel, a retired top NATO general who takes office as the Czech head of state March 9, told Bloomberg Television in Prague. “The only exception is nuclear weapons and direct involvement of NATO in the conflict.”
President Vladimir Putin has reportedly ordered Russia’s military to capture all of Donetsk and Luhansk by March, according to the Institute for the Study of War, citing a Ukrainian intelligence official. On Thursday Putin framed the war he started almost a year ago as an existential threat to Russia, and said Moscow “has the means to fight back.”
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Key Developments
- US Raises Pressure on Turkey and UAE to Curb Russia Trade Ties
- Don’t Limit Weapons for Ukraine, Next Czech President Says
- US to Send Ukraine Boeing’s Ground-Launched, GPS-Guided Bombs
- Putin Vows Ukraine Victory as He Hails WWII Stalingrad Triumph
- As Russia Gears Up for New Push, Ukraine Waits for More Weapons
On the Ground
Russia conducted five air attacks over the past day and four missile strikes, two of which hit civilian infrastructure in the city of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region, Ukraine’s General Staff said on Facebook. Ukrainian troops repelled assaults near 10 settlements in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions in the east. Civilian targets in the southern Kherson and Mykolaiv regions were shelled from multiple launch rocket systems, according to the General Staff.
(All times CET)
Estonia Calls on IOC to Ban Russians Over Invasion (2:38 p.m.)
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas urged the International Olympics Committee to reconsider its position on allowing athletes from Russia and Belarus to participate in the 2024 games in Paris.
“Russia has killed hundreds of Ukrainian athletes, including Olympic champions and world champions,” Kallas said at a news conference with the prime ministers of Latvia and Lithuania in Tallinn. She added that one in three members of the Russian team at the Beijing Winter Olympics served in the Russian military.
US Raises Pressure on Turkey and UAE to Curb Russia Trade Ties (1:52 p.m.)
The US has told the United Arab Emirates and Turkey that their economic and financial ties to Russia are hampering efforts to curb Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Brian Nelson, under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence at the US Treasury, met with Turkish officials on Thursday and Friday to discuss US concerns about the rising exports that include US goods, according to people with knowledge of the matter. It was part of a regional tour that included the UAE earlier this week.
Read More: US Raises Pressure on Turkey and UAE to Curb Russia Trade Ties
Floating Power Plant for Ukraine to Arrive in Next 2-3 Months (1:13 p.m.)
A floating power plant will be installed in the Moldovan port of Giurgiulesti and connected to Ukraine’s network in the next two to three months, Zeynep Harezi, chief commercial officer of Turkey’s Karpowership, said in an interview.
The company’s specialized vessel will have capacity to generate 200 megawatts of electricity and will initially operate on liquid fuels before a gas pipeline has been completed. Karpowership aims to eventually plug the entire power deficit in Ukraine, now estimated at 1,000 megawatts, by installing more ships also in other neighboring nations such as Romania, she said.
Ukraine Continues Crackdown on Military-Related Graft (12:11 p.m.)
With talks underway focused on Ukraine’s potential accession to the European Union, Kyiv continues to announce crackdowns on potential corruption.
Ukraine suspects two executives from private companies it didn’t identify of mismanaging nearly 120 million hryvnia ($3.2 million) allocated for food procurement for the army, according to statements on Telegram from the Security Service of Ukraine and Prosecutor General’s Office. Officials are also looking into whether defense ministry officials were involved.
In a separate case, the deputy chief of the country’s top military medical commission is being investigated for allegedly taking bribes from military-age men in return for providing them with documents exempting them from the draft. More than 5 million hryvnia ($135,000) were confiscated from his office and home, the Security Service said.
Germany Approves Leopard 1 Tanks for Ukraine (12 p.m.)
Germany has given the green light to ship Leopard 1 main battle tanks to Ukraine, government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said at a news conference in Berlin.
The tanks will be sourced from German industry and will come in addition to deliveries of more modern Leopard 2s taken from the country’s military stocks that have already been announced and approved.
The news was reported earlier by Sueddeutsche Zeitung. The Leopard 1, no longer in production, was West Germany’s primary MBT in the 1960s and 1970s until it was supplanted by the Leopard 2.
Germany, Sweden in Talks Over Anti-Missile Systems for Ukraine (11:46 a.m.)
Germany and Sweden are in talks over a new weapons package for Ukraine which would see Stockholm provide air defense missiles and launchers for Germany’s IRIS-T systems, said people familiar with the matter.
The discussions would also make available more ammunition that can be used for Germany’s IRIS-T systems sent to Kyiv, according to people familiar with the matter.
Read more: Germany, Sweden in Talks Over Anti-Missile Systems for Ukraine
Druzhba Oil Link Operating Normally (11:41 a.m.)
Russia’s Druzhba oil-export link to eastern Europe is operating normally, said Igor Dyomin, spokesman for the nation’s oil-pipeline operator Transneft PJSC.
Earlier on Friday, Telegram channels reported that the link had allegedly been targeted by Ukrainian missiles, but the attack was repelled by Russian anti-missile forces with no damage to infrastructure. Transneft is unaware of any attacks on the pipeline today, Dyomin said.
On Thursday, pumping station Novozybkov of the Druzhba link’s infrastructure near Russia’s border with Belarus and Ukraine was shelled, but no injuries were reported and oil flows continued normally.
Czech Incoming President Says Russia Isn’t the Only Nuclear Power (11:18 a.m.)
The Czech Republic’s incoming president said the only limit to weapons deliveries to Ukraine should be nuclear arms.
Petr Pavel, a retired NATO general who takes office in March, also issued a veiled threat, saying said Russia isn’t the only country to possess atomic weapons.
“We shouldn’t put any cap on equipment,” Pavel told Bloomberg Television in an interview in Prague Friday. “The only exception is nuclear weapons and direct involvement of NATO in the conflict.”
Read more: Czech Incoming President Says No ‘Cap’ on Kyiv Weapons Shipments
Russia to Boost Currency Sales to Offset Energy Revenue Drop (10:19 a.m.)
Russia will almost triple the amount of foreign currency it plans to sell through early March after a plunge in energy revenue brought it far below the target set in the budget.
The Finance Ministry said Friday it will sell 160.2 billion rubles ($2.3 billion) during Feb. 7 through March 6 under a budgetary mechanism aimed at insulating the economy from the ups and downs in oil prices.
Read more: Russia to Boost Currency Sales to Offset Energy Revenue Drop (1)
Widespread Air Raid Alerts as Ukrainian, EU Officials to Meet (9:50 a.m.)
Air alerts sounded in Kyiv and in many other regions, including the south and the far west, as President Zelenskiy and his aides prepared to meet with top EU officials.
There were no immediate reports of strikes. A Russian surveillance plane and two MiG-31k fighter jets took off Friday morning from Belarus, according to the monitoring group Belarusian Hajun.
Among the officials in Kyiv to meet with Zelenskiy are European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel and Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief.
Germany Studies Tapping Coal-Exit Funds for Defense (9:41 a.m.)
Germany is considering re-routing subsidies for eliminating coal-fired power plants to help defense manufacturers build new production facilities, according to people familiar with the matter.
The discussions are underway aimed at providing the country’s armed forces with more weapons and ammunition and creating jobs in regions that are affected by the shift away from coal, said the people.
Germany’s military has been suffering from outdated and partly dysfunctional equipment for years. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine the German government earmarked 100 billion euros ($109 billion) in defense spending to expand and modernize its armed forces.
Russia Has No Plans to Cut Fuel Output Amid EU Ban: Tass (8:19 a.m.)
Russia sees no reason for a sharp reduction in its oil-processing volumes and petroleum-product output when the European embargo on imports enters into force this weekend, Tass said.
Read more: Russia Has No Plans to Cut Fuel Output Amid EU Ban, Tass Says
Russia to Test Hypersonic Missile in Drills With China, South Africa (7 a.m.)
The Russian frigate Admiral Gorshkov will launch a hypersonic Tsirkon missile during the joint naval exercises with China and South Africa this month, Tass reported, citing an official it didn’t identify.
Tsirkon will be launched at an above-water target at a range of over 500 kilometers (300 miles). In January the same frigate conducted a computer simulation of a launch.
Read more: Hypersonic Weapons — Who Has Them and Why It Matters: QuickTake
North Korea to Send Works to Occupied Ukraine (6 a.m.)
The government in Pyongyang recently ordered North Korean trading companies operating in Russia to select personnel to work in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine so they can take part in reconstruction efforts, Daily NK reports, citing an unidentified person in Russia familiar with details of the agreement.
The first batch of about 300 to 500 workers is likely to arrive as early as mid-February. The men are likely to be employed in repairing buildings and roads.
Bomb-Tipped Rocket Will Be Part of New Military Aid (2 a.m.)
A new ground-launched, bomb-tipped rocket will be part of the latest package of US arms for Ukraine to be announced Friday, officials said.
The weapon combines an Air Force Small-Diameter Bomb guided by GPS satellites and an Army rocket already being operated by Ukraine’s forces. Like some other equipment provided by the US and allies, it won’t be deployed in Ukraine any time soon: An industry official said it would take about nine months for the first deliveries once the Air Force issues a contract.
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