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The latest developments in Russia's war on Ukraine. All times EST.
10:08 p.m.: NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned Friday about the growing ties between China and Russia, urging countries that believe in "democracy and freedom" to stand together to counter authoritarian powers, Agence France-Presse reported.
After Russia sent troops into Ukraine, China sought to position itself as neutral but at the same time deepened ties with Moscow and has not condemned the invasion.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, Stoltenberg said NATO was "following closely the increased and stronger relationship between China and Russia."
The countries were conducting military exercises together, as well as naval and air patrols, he said.
Stoltenberg said that Beijing was watching the war in Ukraine closely.
"If President (Vladimir) Putin wins there, it will impact the calculations and decisions they will make in Beijing," he said.
9:13 p.m.: A former security guard at the British Embassy in Berlin was sentenced Friday to more than 13 years in prison for putting U.K. diplomats at "maximum risk" by selling secret information to Russia, The Associated Press reported.
David Ballantyne Smith admitted spying but claimed he was driven by depression and a desire to "teach the embassy a lesson" because he felt badly treated at work.
But Judge Mark Wall said Smith was motivated by hatred of the U.K. and support for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
He sentenced Smith to 13 years and two months in prison for eight breaches of the Official Secrets Act.
Smith, 58, gave the Russian Embassy in Germany's capital information about the activities, identities, addresses and phone numbers of British officials, prosecutors said. Smith also collected intelligence on the operation and layout of the British Embassy, which prosecutors said would be useful to "an enemy, namely the Russian state."
The judge said Smith sent the Russians photographs of U.K. embassy staff with annotated descriptions that put them at "maximum risk."
8:58 p.m.: The head of Russia's mercenary Wagner Group on Friday claimed the capture of Paraskoviivka village, near Bakhmut, the eastern Ukraine city that's the scene of the longest-running battle of Moscow's offensive, Agence France-Presse reported.
"The settlement of Paraskoviivka is completely under the control of Wagner PMC units. Despite the blockade of ammunition, despite heavy losses and bloody battles, the guys completely occupied the entire territory of Paraskoviivka," Yevgeny Prigozhin said, quoted by his press service.
For several weeks, Russian forces have been posting painstaking incremental gains north of Bakhmut and said they had cut off three out of four Ukrainian supply routes to the city.
But Prigozhin has also said it could take months to capture the embattled city that has turned into a key political and symbolic prize.
Kyiv on Monday conceded a "difficult" situation north of Bakhmut, shortly after Moscow claimed control of the village of Krasna Gora, adjacent to Paraskoviivka.
8:03 p.m.: The dream run of Ukraine Team Select at the Quebec International Peewee Hockey Tournament came to an end Friday with a 2-1 loss to Vermont Flames Academy, The Associated Press reported.
After the game, a Ukrainian flag was displayed on the ice with the names of two fathers of team members. One father had died in combat and the another is fighting on the front lines.
The team of young refugees will remain in the province until Monday and have a full schedule of winter activities before returning to their war-torn country or to neighboring countries.
“They represented their country in this difficult situation,” Coach Evgheniy Pysarenko said. “That is why they wanted to win so hard. We missed a couple of chances, and I don’t know — luck wasn’t on our side, unfortunately. But they fought until the end. And they didn’t give up. It’s great. Strong characters."
7:23 p.m.:
6:51 p.m.: Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s Office of the President, asked for the creation of a special international tribunal to investigate the crime of Russian aggression against Ukraine.
"The fastest and easiest way to build the security of Ukraine and the whole world is to create a special tribunal to try the Russian leadership for the crime of aggression. Europe and the entire civilized world understand why it is necessary," he said at an exhibition within the Munich Security Conference.
Yermak said that as of the beginning of February, more than 60,000 Russian war crimes were recorded in Ukraine, including 155 cases of sexual violence. Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, more than 9,500 civilians, including 461 children, have been killed. About 78,000 infrastructure facilities have been damaged or destroyed.
6 p.m.: Ukraine's General Staff reported that the Armed Forces carried out five air strikes on Russian military personnel on Friday, including one location that had an anti-aircraft missile system.
Meanwhile, Russian forces continue to launch attacks on civilians throughout Ukraine. According to the report, Russians carried out six rocket attacks on civilian infrastructure in Kupiansk, Kharkiv Oblast, on Friday. Ten airstrikes and more than 10 attacks from multiple rocket launchers were also carried out, damaging three homes and a building.
Russian artillery fire also hit multiple settlements and districts in Chernihiv, Zapozhzhia, Kharkiv, Kherson, Donetsk, and Luhansk oblasts.
Russian forces remain focused on attacks along Kupiansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, and Shakhtarsk in eastern Ukraine, but have also taken heavy losses, The Kyiv Independent reports.
5:30 p.m.: Poland is not open to providing F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said during the Munich Security Conference Friday. Morawiecki expressed the country's willingness to collaborate with other NATO member states on providing alternative fighter jets.
He attributed this to Poland having "very few" F-16s in its arsenal.
The Polish Prime Minister added that Poland had already sent 250 tanks to Ukraine and would provide another 60 modernized tanks and 14 Leopard-2 tanks, The Kyiv Independent reports.
"It is incorrect to say that Ukraine cannot be defeated, and the Russian Federation cannot win this war," he said. "We must say: Russia must lose this war, and Ukraine must win this war."
5:15 p.m.: The International Monetary Fund on Friday said it set the stage for talks on a full loan program that would support Kyiv's economy and its bid to join the European Union, Reuters reports.
Ukraine is seeking an IMF loan program of up to $20 billion. As Russia's invasion is about to enter its second year, it faces an estimated total external financing need of $40-$57 billion in 2023.
Among benchmarks met under the policy monitoring arrangement were the government's submission to parliament of draft tax laws aimed at increasing revenues and steps by the Finance Ministry to address arrears, the IMF said.
The Fund said that Ukraine's economy contracted by 30% in 2022, shrinking less than initially forecast, while inflation has begun to decelerate. But Ukraine's near-term economic outlook had deteriorated due to Russian attacks on critical infrastructure.
"However... a gradual economic recovery is expected through the course of the year," the IMF said.
4:55 p.m. Russia's ongoing attempt to drain the Kakhovka Reservoir could leave more than a million people in Ukraine without drinking water, Environmental Protection Minister Ruslan Strilets said during a press briefing on February 17. The Kyiv Independent reports.
"Lowering the level below 12 meters will lead to an ecological disaster since we can lose a lot of biodiversity," he said, adding that it also puts the functioning of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant's turbine capacitors and safety systems at risk.
Currently, the water level in the reservoir is 13.83 meters against the standard 16 meters.
4:15 p.m.: The United States will directly warn companies against evading U.S. sanctions imposed on Russia over the war in Ukraine, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said, as Washington seeks to further squeeze Russia's economy.
Speaking to Reuters ahead of the first anniversary of Russia's February 24 invasion of its neighbor, Adeyemo expressed concerns about the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Turkey and countries near Russia evading sanctions.
"We're going to go directly to their companies and make very clear to their companies that you have a choice," Adeyemo said. "You can continue to do things that are going to benefit Russia and provide them material support, but then you bear the risk of losing access to the European economy, to the United States economy, to the UK economy — this is your choice. We're willing to take these actions."
Washington also will approach banks in the United States, Britain, Europe and Japan to ask them to warn their clients that they could lose access to financial institutions if found to be evading U.S. sanctions, Adeyemo said.
The comments come amid signs that Russia's economy was not hit as heavily as initially expected by western sanctions, Reuters reports.
3:45 p.m. A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers is pressing President Joe Biden to send F-16 warplanes to Ukraine as the 1st anniversary since Russia’s invasion on Ukraine is looming.
Five House members argued modern jets — which Kyiv has sought, but the administration has so far not agreed to — “could prove decisive for control of Ukrainian airspace this year” in a Thursday letter to Biden obtained by Politico.
“The provision of such aircraft is necessary to help Ukraine protect its airspace, particularly in light of renewed Russian offensives and considering the expected increase in large-scale combat operations,” the lawmakers wrote.
3:12 p.m.: Facebook allowed an exiled Moldovan oligarch with ties to the Kremlin to run ads calling for protests and uprisings against the pro-Western government, even though he and his political party were on U.S. sanctions lists, The Associated Press reported.
The ads — featuring politician and convicted fraudster Ilan Shor — were removed by Facebook but not before they were seen millions of times in Moldova, a nation of about 2.6 million sandwiched between Romania and war-torn Ukraine.
The paid posts from Shor’s political party targeted the government of pro-Western President Maia Sandu, who earlier this week detailed what she said was a Russian plot to topple her government using external saboteurs.
The ads reveal how Russia and its allies have exploited lapses by social media platforms — such as Facebook — to spread propaganda and disinformation that weaponizes economic and social insecurity in an attempt to undermine governments in Eastern Europe.
2:30 p.m.
2:05 p.m.: The first class of 635 Ukrainian fighters has finished a five-week advanced U.S. training course in Germany on sophisticated combat skills and armored vehicles that will be critical in the coming spring offensive against the Russians, The Associated Press reported Friday, quoting the Pentagon.
Pentagon press secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder said the second group of about 710 Ukrainian troops has arrived at the Grafenwoehr training area. The completion of the first class coincided with a visit to the base by U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, giving him his first chance to see Ukrainian soldiers training there.
The Ukrainian troops arrived at the base on January 15 and were put through an intense course that prepared them to take Bradley fighting vehicles and M109 Paladins into battle. The Bradleys and Paladins are two of the many armored vehicles and tanks that the U.S. and allies have pledged to the Ukrainians to help them punch through entrenched Russian troop lines. The Paladin is a self-propelled howitzer that runs on tracks rather than wheels.
Ryder said the newly arriving group of Ukrainian troops will get training on the Paladin and the Stryker, an armored personnel carrier.
1:50 p.m.: Sixteen Ukrainian children taken by Russia have been reunited with their families in Kyiv. The return operation was organized by the charity foundation Save Ukraine. The team says that they've been able to return 120 children from occupied territories in Ukraine and 30 children from Russia. Ukraine's National Information Bureau claims more than 16,000 of the country's children have been deported by Russia. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has this report:
1:35 p.m.: Spending on new cars in Russia more than halved last year as the auto industry felt the full force of Western sanctions over the conflict in Ukraine, with production plunging, prices soaring and buyers switching to cheaper used models, Reuters reported.
While analysts continue to debate the overall effectiveness of economic curbs on Russia, there can be no doubt they have hit hard in its car industry, which was heavily reliant on foreign manufacturers and imported parts.
Spending on new cars slumped 52% to 1.5 trillion rubles ($20.4 billion) last year, while the number of new cars sold tumbled by 58.8%. Car production also slumped to its lowest since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union as Western automakers halted production and sold factories.
1:20 p.m.:
1:05 p.m.: Pictures of devastation in Ukraine following Russia's invasion have sparked urgent questions over how its reconstruction can be paid for. But before they can even begin to be answered, Kyiv is seeking billions just to ride out this year, Reuters reported in this financial analysis.
After a 30% contraction in its economy in 2022, Ukraine will need $38 billion by the end of year to cover its budget deficit alone.
"We need these funds for critical costs: funding of salaries and pensions, education and medicine," Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told a government meeting this week. "For economic stability and a successful fight against the enemy, Ukraine needs more help."
On top of that, Kyiv said it will need $17 billion this year for urgent energy repairs and de-mining and rebuilding some of its critical infrastructure. While the EU is expected to provide the lion's share of funds to cover the budget deficit at $18 billion, and Washington a further $10 billion, Kiev has yet to identify sources of funding to meet those additional costs.
12:50 p.m.: The World Health Organization on Friday appealed for more funds to support Ukraine's health sector, which has been severely damaged by the Russian invasion. WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge said the country now needed more funds to ensure that mental health services and rehabilitation could be dispensed, while ensuring community access to health services. In a statement, Kluge said that one year after the start of the war in Ukraine, “This is not the time to let fatigue win.” Kluge is in Ukraine for his fifth visit in the past year and expressed solidarity with Ukraine’s “formidable health workforce.”
12:30 p.m.: U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will travel to India next week for G20 finance meetings that will focus on unblocking distressed-country debt restructuring, boosting support for Ukraine and reforming multilateral development banks, Reuters reported, quoting a Treasury official.
Yellen will join fellow G20 finance ministers and central bank governors in Bengaluru on Feb. 23-25, spanning the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The senior Treasury official told reporters on Friday that Yellen would take every opportunity to criticize Russia's actions and to work with allies to try to mitigate spillovers that the conflict has caused, including addressing food insecurity and high energy prices.
Yellen will also emphasize the need to increase financial support for Ukraine, including a new International Monetary Fund loan program, the official said.
12:10 p.m.: NATO, the EU and Ukraine will hold their first trilateral meeting next week, the Kyiv Independent reported Friday.
“NATO head Jens Stoltenberg, EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will meet in Brussels on Feb. 21,” the media organization reported.
“It will be the first time the representatives meet in this trilateral format,” it said, citing Kuleba.
11:50 a.m.:
11:35 a.m.: A court in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian region of Crimea has sentenced a retired Ukrainian Navy officer to 8 1/2 years in prison on the charge of taking part in activities of an illegal armed group, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.
The Dzhankoy district court sentenced Oleksiy Kiselyov on February 17 after finding him guilty of joining the Noman Chelebidzhikhan battalion of Crimean Tatars that is fighting against Russia's ongoing invasion in Ukraine.
The battalion's founder, Lenur Islyamov, has denied Kiselyov's links to the military group. Kiselyov was abducted in the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine's Kherson region in July 2022.
11:20 a.m.: Negotiations will start in a week on extending a U.N.-backed initiative that has enabled Ukraine to export grain from ports blockaded by Russia after its invasion, Reuters reported, quoting a senior Ukrainian official.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative brokered by the United Nations and Turkey last July allowed grain to be exported from three Ukrainian ports.
The agreement was extended by a further 120 days in November and is up for renewal again in March, but Russia has signaled that it is unhappy with some aspects of the deal and has asked for sanctions affecting its agricultural exports to be lifted.
"Negotiations on extending the grain corridor will begin in a week and then we will understand the positions of all parties," Ukrainian Deputy Infrastructure Minister Yuriy Vaskov said during a grain conference in Kyiv organized by the ProAgro agriculture consultancy.
"I think common sense will prevail and the corridor will be extended," he said.
11:05 a.m.:
10:55 a.m.: French President Emmanuel Macron appeared on Friday to toughen his stance towards Moscow, urging allies to step up military support for Ukraine to help it push back Russia's invasion since now was not the time for dialogue with Moscow, Reuters reported.
Macron has drawn criticism among some NATO allies for delivering mixed messages regarding his policy on the war between Ukraine and Russia, with some considering Paris a weak link in the Western alliance. On Friday, he sought to straighten the course.
"The time is not for dialogue with Russia," he said in a speech to the Munich Security Conference, adding that Russia's almost one-year-old invasion of its neighbor "had to fail." He sought to make it clear that, for now, he would be doubling down on French support for Kyiv.
"We absolutely need to intensify our support and our effort to the resistance of the Ukrainian people and its army and help them to launch a counter-offensive which alone can allow credible negotiations, determined by Ukraine, its authorities and its people," he said.
10:40 a.m.: European Union lawmakers have condemned the International Olympic Committee’s decision to set out a path for some athletes from Russia and Belarus to try to qualify for the 2024 Paris Games, The Associated Press reported Friday.
In a resolution adopted Thursday by 444 votes in favor, 26 against and 37 abstentions, EU legislators said allowing them to compete under a neutral flag “runs counter to those countries’ multifaceted isolation and will be used by both regimes for propaganda purposes.”
The IOC has argued that it would be discriminatory to exclude Russia and ally Belarus from sports ahead of the Paris Olympics. With qualifying in many sports already underway, the IOC wants athletes from those countries to compete in a neutral capacity without national symbols.
IOC president Thomas Bach and the IOC have faced widespread backlash from Ukraine and its allies, including comments directed at him by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
In its resolution marking one year of the war, the EU Parliament urged the 27 EU countries and the international community to pressure the IOC to reverse its decision, “which is an embarrassment to the international world of sport.”
Lawmakers also asked member states to seriously consider sending fighter jets to Ukraine and said Russian assets frozen by the EU should be used to rebuild Ukraine. They also asked for broadened sanctions against Moscow and demanded that accession talks for Ukraine’s EU membership start this year.
10:25 a.m.:
10:10 a.m.: Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted neighboring ally Belarus’ leader on Friday for talks on expanding military and economic cooperation amid the fighting in Ukraine, The Associated Press reported.
Russia used Belarusian territory to send troops into Ukraine nearly a year ago at the start of what the Kremlin calls its “special military operation.” Russia has maintained troops and weapons in Belarus and the two countries have regularly conducted joint drills as part of their military alliance.
Speaking at the start of his talks with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Putin proposed to discuss security issues, military cooperation and ways to further bolster economic ties. Putin noted that Belarus has preserved Soviet-era industrial assets, adding that it offers good opportunities for joint manufacturing programs.
“By pooling our efforts we will create synergy,” Putin said. “It could be very efficient in some sectors and bring good results for both Belarus and Russia.”
9:50 a.m.: Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko said he would only order his troops to fight alongside ally Russia if another country launches an attack against Belarus, Reuters reported, quoting the state-run Belta news agency.
Lukashenko, who has repeatedly denied claims from Kyiv and the West that his country could be dragged further into the war in Ukraine on the side of Moscow, also said he planned to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday.
9:35 a.m.:
9:20 a.m.: European demand for U.S. weaponry is soaring, but instead of big-ticket items like jets and tanks, shopping lists are focused on cheaper, less-sophisticated items such as shoulder-fired missiles, artillery, and drones that have proven critical to Ukraine's war efforts.
Countries close to Russia like Poland, Finland and Germany are striking deals to build U.S. weapons in Europe, negotiating new deals to buy arms and looking to speed up existing contracts, according to interviews with military officials and industry executives, and a Reuters review of recent announcements by governments and defense manufacturers.
9:05 a.m.: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday there should be no taboo on supplying weapons to Ukraine because it needs arms to defend its sovereignty, Reuters reported.
Zelenskyy made his comment at a joint news conference with visiting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte in Kyiv.
"We have a common understanding with the Netherlands that there should not be any taboo on the supply and support of weapons to our army, to our Ukraine, because it supports and protects our sovereignty," he said.
8:50 a.m.:
8:30 a.m.: Ukrainian soldiers fighting to hold off a Russian push on the small eastern city of Bakhmut pleaded for more weapons from the outside world as senior Western leaders met in Munich on Friday to assess the year-long war shaking Europe, Reuters reported.
"Give us more military equipment, more weapons, and we will deal with the Russian occupier, we will destroy them," said Dmytro, a serviceman standing in the snow near Bakhmut which Russia's Wagner mercenary group is attacking.
Nearly one year into the invasion, President Vladimir Putin's troops are intensifying assaults in the east.
Ukraine is planning a spring counter-offensive, for which it wants more, heavier and longer-range weapons from its Western allies.
The governor of Luhansk, one of two provinces in what is known as the Donbas which Russia partially controls and wants to take completely, said ground and air attacks were increasing.
"Today it is rather difficult on all directions," Serhiy Haidai told local TV. "There are constant attempts to break through our defense lines," he said of fighting near the city of Kreminna.
8:15 a.m.: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Western allies Friday to quicken their military support for Ukraine, warning at a major international security conference that delays would play into Russia’s hand as the invasion approaches its first anniversary, The Associated Press reported.
“There is no alternative to speed, because it’s speed that life depends on,” Zelenskyy told the Munich Security Conference in Germany.
Ukraine is depending on Western weapons to thwart Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ambition of securing control of large areas of the country, in what has become a test of foreign governments’ resolve amid increasing financial costs.
About 40 heads of state and government, as well as politicians and security experts from almost 100 countries, including the United States, Europe and China, were due to attend the three-day gathering.
In his plea for more Western weapons, Zelenskyy compared Ukraine’s struggle against the Russian invasion to the biblical fight between David and Goliath, saying his country had David’s courage but needed help in getting the sling.
Zelenskyy vowed that his country would ultimately prevail over Moscow’s aggression but warned that Russia “can still destroy many lives.”
“That is why we need to hurry up,” Zelenskyy said. “We need the speed.”
Zelenskyy portrays Ukraine as defending Western values of freedom and democracy against tyranny and argues that his country needs to be properly provisioned to fend off Russia’s much bigger force. Western countries have sided with him, but at times they have been slow to meet his requests.
7:35 a.m.: The Munich Security Conference's opening ceremony featured several speakers, including Christoph Heusgen, the Chairman of the MSC, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (via video speech), German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and French President Emmanuel Macron. The event was broadcast live by BR24.
7:20 a.m.: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to address the annual Munich Security Conference on Friday via video link.
Last year, the conference attendees implored Russian President Vladimir Putin not to invade Ukraine. This year the conference is opening just days ahead of the February 24 anniversary of the invasion.
7:05 a.m.: U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will join the leaders of France, Germany, the U.K. and dozens of others Friday at a security conference in Germany to discuss the next steps in supporting Ukraine as the Russian invasion nears its one-year anniversary, The Associated Press reported.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is also scheduled to attend the three-day conference. The conference will bring together about 40 heads of state and government as well as politicians and security experts from almost 100 countries.
For the first time in two decades, Russian leaders were not invited to the Munich Security Conference, a yearly gathering of world leaders, politicians and security experts, which is set to open with a video address by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Besides the Russians, organizers didn’t invite officials from Iran due to the bloody crackdown on nationwide anti-government protests in the Islamic Republic.
Harris is returning to stage at the conference a year after she shared U.S. warnings, just days before the invasion began, that Russia was about to attack its neighbor. In her speech Saturday, the vice president will lay out what’s at stake in the war and why it matters, to bolster the case for maintaining U.S. support for Ukraine for as long as it takes, the White House said.
Some Republicans in Congress are calling for an end to military and financial aid to Kyiv, and a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows support among the American public for providing Ukraine weaponry and direct economic assistance has dropped.
Harris will meet French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on the sidelines of the Munich forum to discuss the next steps in supporting Ukraine on the battlefield and efforts to impose costs on Russia, the White House said. She will also have a joint meeting with the prime ministers of Finland and Sweden in which she will underscore Washington’s strong support for their applications to join NATO.
6:50 a.m.:
6:30 a.m.: Russia on Friday accused the United States of inciting Ukraine to escalate the war by condoning attacks on Crimea, warning that Washington was now directly involved in the conflict because "crazy people" had dreams of defeating Russia, Reuters reported.
Moscow was responding to comments by U.S. Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland who said the United States considers that Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, should be demilitarized at a minimum and that Washington supports Ukrainian attacks on military targets on the peninsula.
"Now the American warmongers have gone even further: They incite the Kyiv regime to further escalate the war," Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, told reporters when asked about Nuland's remarks.
"They supply weapons in huge quantities, provide intelligence and participate directly in the planning of combat operations," Zakharova said, adding that some U.S. officials dreamed like "crazies" of defeating Russia.
6:10 a.m.:
5:45 a.m.: Ukrainian forces have repelled Russian attacks on multiple settlements over the past day, as Russia continued to target Ukraine’s critical infrastructure, Kyiv said on Friday, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
The Russian military launched 41 missile strikes on Ukraine in the past day and five of them hit the Kharkiv region, Ukraine’s military said in its morning bulletin. Ukrainian air defense forces shot down 16 of the missiles, the General Staff of Ukraine's military added.
The Russian Army also carried out 24 air strikes, the bulletin said. The attacks caused casualties among the civilian population, the General Staff said, but didn’t provide further details. Reports say 50 homes and one industrial plant were damaged by the latest attacks.
"Unfortunately, there are hits in the north, west, and in the Dnipropetrovsk and Kirovohrad regions," Andriy Yermak, the head of the presidential office, said on Telegram. Local officials said that at least one person was killed and eight others wounded in a missile strike in Pavlohrad in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
Three missiles hit what was described as critical infrastructure in the Lviv region in the country’s west. Russian missiles also hit targets in the central regions of Poltava and Kirovohrad and in Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine.
5:20 a.m.: Russia has switched its aerial strike tactics to fool Ukraine’s air defenses, using decoy missiles without explosive warheads and deploying balloons, a senior Ukrainian official said Thursday.
“The Russians are definitely changing tactics” as the war approaches its one-year anniversary, Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said in an interview with The Associated Press.
The goal of the decoy missiles, Podolyak said, is to overwhelm Ukraine’s air defense systems by offering too many targets.
“They want to overload our anti-aircraft system to get an extra chance to hit infrastructure facilities,” Podolyak said, adding that Ukraine’s air defenses are adapting to the challenge.
In the AP interview, Podolyak also renewed Ukraine’s appeals for long-range missiles that would enable it to strike Russian troop concentrations far behind the front lines, and also stressed that “we just don’t have enough shells.”
5:07 a.m.: The Institute for the Study of War, a U.S. think tank, said in its latest Ukraine assessment that Russian forces continued offensive operations northwest of Svatove, near Kreminna, around Bakhmut, along the western outskirts of Donetsk City and in western Donetsk Oblast. Russian sources claimed that Ukrainian forces continued reconnaissance activities along the Dnipro River in Kherson Oblast.
4:08 a.m.: The latest intelligence update from the U.K. defense ministry estimated Russian casualties since Russia invaded Ukraine at about 175,000-200,000. Of that number, some 40,000-60,000 were killed, and most of the casualties were caused by artillery attacks.
The update noted that "extremely rudimentary medical provision across much of the force" contributed to the deaths, which by standards are high.
3:13 a.m.: The United States remains steadfast in its support for war-torn Ukraine, a leading Democratic senator told Agence France-Presse in an interview Thursday before heading to the world's largest global security conference in Germany.
Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island, said concerns about the U.S. reducing funding to Ukraine are overblown.
"I think that the hostility to continuing to support Ukraine has been much exaggerated... I think even among House Republicans, the normal view is to continue to support Ukraine."
The Rhode Island senator told AFP it was "possible" that an agreement could even be reached on sending fighter jets to Kyiv, a controversial idea that has sparked heated debate in the coalition of countries supporting the Western ally.
He is traveling to Germany with Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
2:16 a.m.: Russian Grad rockets and barrel artillery slammed into a residential district in the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut on Thursday, killing three men and two women and wounding nine more, Ukraine's prosecutor general said, adding it was being investigated as a war crime.
An investigation had determined that Russia fired barrel artillery and Grad rockets at Bakhmut on Thursday, the office said, Reuters reported.
There was no immediate word from Moscow on the allegation that civilians were killed, and Reuters could not independently confirm the battlefield report.
Russia says it strives to avoid injuring civilians. A current focus of its forces is Bakhmut in Donetsk, one of two regions making up the Donbas, the country's industrial heartland now partially occupied by Russia.
The prosecutor general's office said the regional office in Donetsk was leading pre-trial investigations and criminal proceedings under the section of Ukraine's criminal code that covers violations of the laws and customs of war.
1:12 a.m.: Oleksandra Matviichuk, a Ukrainian rights activist whose NGO was co-winner of last year's Nobel Peace Prize, called Thursday for the world to "hold Russian war criminals accountable," in an interview with Agence France-Presse.
"We must break the circle of impunity," she said, urging the United Nations and the European Union to back Kyiv's call for a special tribunal able to judge top Russian officials all the way up to President Vladimir Putin.
While acknowledging that getting a majority of U.N. member countries behind that goal was a "hard task," Matviichuk said it was indispensable for any post-war peace that might follow the end of the conflict in her country.
"There will not be sustainable peace without justice," she noted.
12:02 a.m.: Russia's decision to cut crude oil production by 500,000 barrels per day reflects its inability to sell all of its oil, Ben Harris, a U.S. Treasury Department Assistant Secretary, said Thursday, Reuters reported.
Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak last week said it would voluntarily cut production beginning next month following the start of Western price caps on Russian oil and oil products on Feb. 5. The move to cut around 5% of output temporarily pushed up global prices.
"They cut back on production because they just couldn't sell it (the oil), not because they wanted to weaponize oil and refined products," Harris said in remarks at the Argus Americas Crude Summit.
The cut follows embargoes and sanctions, including an unprecedented $60 a barrel price cap on its crude, by Western countries to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine. Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia have pushed for lowering the crude oil cap.
Russia's monthly budget revenues from oil and gas fell 46% in January to their lowest level since August 2020 under the impact of Western sanctions on its most lucrative export, according to finance ministry data.
Some information in this report came from Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
