Category Archives: Ukraine

US reaction to balloon ‘absurd and hysterical’, says top Chinese diplomat

Posted on by

Wang Yi also says China is preparing to outline position on Russian war against Ukraine

China’s most senior diplomat has described the shooting down of a balloon by the US as “absurd and hysterical”, as well as an abuse of the use of force.

Speaking on stage at the Munich security conference on Saturday, Wang Yi said: “It does not show the US is strong; on the contrary it shows it is weak”. The foreign affairs director said he believed the shooting down was part of an attempt to divert attention from the domestic problems of the Biden administration.

Continue reading...

Sunak urges allies to ‘double down’ on military support – as it happened

Posted on by

In a speech to Munich security conference, UK prime minister says west must not ‘falter in its resolve’. This blog is now closed

The European Union wants to work with its defence industry to increase the supply of ammunition to both Ukraine and the armed forces of its member states, the bloc’s chief has said.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen suggested that the EU’s delivery of the Covid vaccine could serve as a model for how to up production.

Continue reading...

Rishi Sunak to call for new Nato charter to ensure ‘lasting peace’ for Ukraine

Posted on by

UK PM expected to urge leaders at Munich Security Conference to ‘double down on our military support’ for Kyiv

Rishi Sunak will call on world leaders to ensure a “lasting peace” for Ukraine with the establishment of a new Nato charter to help the country defend itself “again and again” in the face of any future declarations of war by Russia.

Fresh from hosting the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in the UK last week, Sunak is expected to call for countries to “double down on our military support” and warn that “the security and sovereignty of every nation” is at stake.

Continue reading...

Russia-Ukraine war: Zelenskiy says it is ‘obvious’ Putin will not stop with Ukraine; Macron calls for more military support – as it happened

Posted on by

Zelenskiy speaks at Munich security conference as Scholz, Macron and Kamala Harris are in Germany; French leader says Ukraine needs more support

Reuters has a quick snap that a Ukrainian official has said negotiations on extending the Black Sea corridor grain export deal will begin next week.

More details soon …

During the day, the Russian army shelled four communities of the Beryslav district. Residents’ residential buildings and outbuildings were damaged. Two people were killed in the village of Zmiivka, and one was injured in Tyahynka.

Continue reading...

Zelenskiy urges west to speed up arms support to head off Russia offensive

Posted on by

Ukraine president tells world leaders in Munich to ‘hurry up’ before Putin gains military advantage

The west needs to speed up its support for Ukraine as Vladimir Putin will gain a military advantage unless arms deliveries arrive soon, Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said in a video address to world leaders at a security conference in Munich.

“We need to hurry up. We need speed – speed of our agreements, speed of our delivery … speed of decisions to limit Russian potential,” the Ukrainian president said. “There is no alternative to speed because it is speed that life depends on.”

Continue reading...

How big a threat does the hard right pose to US support for Ukraine?

Posted on by

A year after the conflict began, the consensus against Russian aggression has held but alarm bells are ringing in Congress

Vladimir Putin has proven adept at exploiting the US political divide, so the solid bipartisan consensus behind arming Ukraine over the past year may well have come as a surprise to him. The question one year into the war is: how long can that consensus last?

Two weeks before the first anniversary of the full-scale invasion on 24 February, a group of Trump-supporting Republicans led by Matt Gaetz introduced a “Ukraine fatigue” resolution that, if passed, would “express through the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States must end its military and financial aid to Ukraine, and urges all combatants to reach a peace agreement”.

Continue reading...

Moldovan MPs approve pro-western PM amid tensions over Russia

Posted on by

Dorin Recean takes office facing inflation at 30% and warnings of Russian plan for country’s ‘destruction’

Moldova’s parliament has approved the formation of a pro-western government led by the new prime minister, Dorin Recean, amid continuing economic turmoil and allegations of Russian meddling.

Recean, 48, was nominated by President Maia Sandu to replace Natalia Gavrilita, whose government resigned last week amid a series of crises in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Continue reading...

Russia-Ukraine war: Zelenskiy rules out giving up any territory to Putin in potential peace deal – as it happened

Posted on by

This live blog has now closed, you can read more of our Russia-Ukraine war coverage here

A poll has revealed that one year after Russia began its war of aggression against Ukraine, 61% of Europeans believe Ukraine will be successful.

PA reports:

One year into the war in Ukraine, 61% of Europeans believe that the country will prevail. Germans, however, are not quite so optimistic, although a 55% majority believes in a Ukrainian victory. These are the findings of the EU-wide survey conducted by eupinions. It is published in cooperation with the Belgian King Baudouin Foundation.

Europeans are not only betting on victory, 68% also see the war of aggression as a matter affecting them all, because it is an attack on the whole of Europe. Most EU citizens polled also see Ukraine in a battle to defend a set of common values that are shared by all European states.

Continue reading...

Wagner mercenary group will ‘decrease’ as prisoner recruitment ends, says boss

Posted on by

Kremlin is said to be pushing back against private army and curbing influence of Yevgeny Prighozin

The Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin has admitted that his mercenary group is facing difficulties in Ukraine and will soon decrease in size, amid growing evidence that his political influence in the Kremlin is waning.

“The number of Wagner units will decrease, and we will also not be able to carry out the scope of tasks that we would like to,” Prigozhin told a group of pro-war bloggers and state journalists gathered at an army barracks in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday.

Continue reading...

Ukraine ‘inflicting very serious losses’ on Russian troops in the east, says Ukrainian official – as it happened

Posted on by

Ukraine’s deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar says Russian attacks are constant

Nato countries should spend a minimum of 2% of their GDP on defence, said the German defence minister, Boris Pistorius, on Wednesday as Nato defence ministers gathered in Brussels.

“Just spending two percent will not be enough. It must be the basis for everything that follows. The German government is debating that right now and will soon reach an agreement,” Pistorius told the media, Reuters reports.

Continue reading...

Russian army has lost up to half of key battle tanks, analysts estimate

Posted on by

Experts say Moscow has large number of cold-war era models in storage so can continue war in Ukraine for some time

Russia’s army is estimated to have lost nearly 40% of its prewar fleet of tanks after nine months of fighting in Ukraine, according to a count by the specialist thinktank the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS).

That rises to as much as 50% for some of the key tanks used in combat, forcing Russia to reach into its still sizeable cold war-era stocks. Ukraine’s tank numbers are estimated to have increased because of the number it has captured and supplies of Soviet-era tanks from its western allies.

Continue reading...

Iran becoming global drone producer on back of Ukraine war, says US

Posted on by

Officials share declassified intelligence as US seeks wider support for sanctions against Tehran

Iran is emerging as a global leader in the production of cheap and lethal drones, according to US officials, who say Tehran is using the war in Ukraine as a shop window for its technologies.

Analysts at the Defense Intelligence Agency outlined how Iran had turned from being a regional drone player in the Middle East to becoming Moscow’s most significant military backer in the war.

Continue reading...

Ukrainians blow up bridge in Bakhmut amid reports Russia closing in

Posted on by

Kyiv denies retreat imminent as Kremlin throws troops at capturing city before one-year anniversary of war

Ukrainian forces have reportedly blown up a bridge near the eastern city of Bakhmut, in a sign they may be planning to retreat from the area, which would give Russia a significant, symbolic boost ahead of the first anniversary of the war.

Troops blew up the bridge on Monday, according to a local Donetsk region news site. Ukraine denies it intends to leave Bakhmut, despite six months of heavy fighting and reportedly dwindling stockpiles.

Continue reading...

Russia-Ukraine war: Putin has already lost ‘strategically, operationally and tactically’, says US general – as it happened

Posted on by

This live blog has now closed, you can read more about the Russia-Ukraine war here

An air alert has been declared across several southern areas of Ukraine including Mykolaiv, Kherson and Odesa.

Earlier, Volodymyr Litinov, head of the Beryslav district administration in the Kherson region reported on Telegram that Russian shelling in the previous 24 hours had damaged “the hospital building, residential buildings and farm buildings” in the area, but that “fortunately, there were no civilian casualties.”

This is Martin Belam in London taking over the live blog.

Continue reading...

Russia-Ukraine war: Nato seeing start of new Russian offensive already, says Stoltenberg

Posted on by

As it happened: Nato secretary general said Putin sending thousands more troops and accepting big losses to pile pressure on Ukrainians

Reuters reports that an unverified video is being circulated on social media which appears to show the murder with a sledgehammer of a former Russian mercenary who fled the Wagner mercenary group while fighting in Ukraine, in a clip similar to that which showed the killing of Yevgeny Nuzhin in November last year.

In the video published by the Grey Zone Telegram channel, which is linked to Wagner, a man identifies himself as Dmitry Yakushchenko, 44. In the clip the agency reports that facing the camera in a seated position, Yakushchenko appears to recite his name and year of birth.

Continue reading...

‘It’s too cruel’: family stuck in Ukraine after UK host dies suddenly

Posted on by

Exclusive: Nadiia Luba is one of 9,700 Ukrainians still waiting on visa decision under Homes for Ukraine scheme

Nadiia Luba was sheltering in a basement in central Ukraine earlier this month when she learned that her family’s chances of escaping to Britain had been dashed.

After nearly eight months of waiting for visas for her and her two sons, she got a text to say that the British host who had been so ready to welcome them had died suddenly. “I couldn’t stop crying,” she said. “My brain didn’t want to accept it.”

Continue reading...

Wagner head warns it could take two years to achieve Moscow’s objectives – as it happened

Posted on by

Yevgeny Prigozhin says Moscow’s stated aim of capturing eastern regions unlikely to happen in 2023. This blog is now closed

Ukraine’s presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, who headed the country’s negotiating team in the early phases of the conflict, has said “talks are out of the question”.

Podolyak posted to Twitter that Moscow was refusing to withdraw from occupied Ukrainian territories and to admit to “crimes”.

Continue reading...