EU sanctions would target Russia’s financial and energy sectors if Moscow opts to invade Ukraine, EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said Friday. The UK, US and Estonia also urged their nationals to leave Ukraine as Russia prepared to hold fresh military exercises near the two countries’ border and in Belarus. Read FRANCE 24's coverage of the day’s events as they happened below.
9:47 pm Paris time: Biden and Putin to talk on Saturday
US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin are set to speak over the phone on Saturday, RIA reported late Friday, citing the Kremlin.
A call between Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron will also take place on Saturday, the TASS news agency reported.
9:40 pm Paris time: Von der Leyen says EU sanctions on Russia would hit financial, energy sectors
Any European Union sanctions in response to a Russian invasion of Ukraine would target Russia’s financial and energy sectors, EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen warned Friday.
"She reaffirmed the fact that all options were on the table and that sanctions would concern the financial and energy sectors, as well as exports of high-tech products," the European Commission said in a statement, quoting von der Leyen.
9:25 pm Paris time: In call, transatlantic allies urge diplomacy in Ukraine crisis
In Friday’s call between the US and its transatlantic allies, participants “reaffirmed their support for Ukraine’s sovereignty”, the White House said in a statement, adding they expressed a desire for a diplomatic solution to the current crisis
Participants in the call included Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, among others.
9:11 pm Paris time: US to send 3,000 additional troops to Poland
The United States is sending 3,000 more troops to Poland to reassure NATO allies amid heightened fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, a senior defence official said Friday. The troops are expected to arrive in Poland early next week.
9:05 pm Paris time: Estonia urges nationals to leave Ukraine
Estonia’s foreign ministry on Friday joined a string of other countries in updating its travel advisory on Ukraine, urging its nationals to avoid any non-essential travel to the country, citing “an increased risk of military action by Russia".
8:26 pm Paris time: US urges Americans to leave Ukraine within 48 hours
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan says a potentially imminent Russian attack on Ukraine could begin with aerial bombing, urging Americans to leave the country “as soon as possible, and in any event in the next 24 to 48 hours”.
“If a Russian attack on Ukraine proceeds, it is likely to begin with aerial bombing and missile attacks that could obviously kill civilians.”
7:49 pm Paris time: UK tells nationals to leave Ukraine
Britain is urging its nationals in Ukraine to “leave now while commercial means are still available”. The travel advisory update was posted on the foreign office's website.
7:20 pm Paris time: Biden says US will not send troops to rescue Americans in Ukraine if Russia invades
US President Joe Biden said he would not send troops to rescue any Americans who remained in Ukraine in the event of a Russian assault. "Things could go crazy quickly," he told NBC News.
5:55 pm Paris time: Israel evacuates relatives of embassy staff in Ukraine
Israel is evacuating relatives of staff at its embassy in Kyiv, citing “an aggravation of the situation” in an apparent reference to the crisis between Ukraine and Russia.
The foreign ministry statement also urges Israelis to avoid travelling to Ukraine and those who are there “to avoid areas of tension”.
4 pm Paris time: Biden in Friday call with transatlantic leaders
US President Joe Biden will hold an 11 am (5 pm Paris time) call with transatlantic leaders to discuss Russia’s ongoing military buildup around Ukraine, the White House has announced.
The leaders of Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, Britain and NATO will all be on the call.
3 pm Paris time: UK-Russia ties ‘close to zero’
Russia's Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu says Moscow's ties with London are at a low point as he met with UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace for rare talks amid soaring tensions over Ukraine.
"Unfortunately, the level of our cooperation is close to zero and about to cross the zero meridian and go into negative, which is undesirable," Shoigu said in remarks carried by Russian news agencies.
1 pm Paris time: Kremlin cites Truss error as evidence West doesn't understand Ukraine conflict
The Kremlin on Friday cited a geographical gaffe by British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss as an example of how poorly informed Western leaders were about the subject matter in the East-West standoff over Ukraine.
Britain dismissed the comments as propaganda and said Truss had simply misheard Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a meeting.
"This is the reality in which we have to defend our position," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a briefing.
Russia's Kommersant newspaper quoted two diplomatic sources as saying that during their closed-door meeting on Thursday Lavrov had asked Truss if she recognised Russian sovereignty over Rostov and Voronezh – two regions in the south of the country where Russia has been building up its forces.
Kommersant said Truss replied that Britain would never recognise them as Russian, and had to be corrected by her ambassador.
Britain does not dispute the sovereignty of the regions in question. A British source said Truss had misheard during the meeting, and rejected Peskov's characterisation of the West's understanding of the conflict.
11:20 am Paris time: Russia could invade Ukraine at any time, Blinken says
Russia could launch an invasion of Ukraine at any time, including during the Beijing Winter Olympics, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday.
He said Washington was continuing to "draw down" its embassy in Ukraine and repeated a State Department call to American citizens in Ukraine to leave the country immediately.
"Simply put, we continue to see very troubling signs of Russian escalation, including new forces arriving at the Ukrainian border," Blinken told a news conference in the Australian city of Melbourne.
"As we've said before, we're in a window when an invasion could begin at any time, and to be clear, that includes during the Olympics."
11:15 am Paris time: Russia presses on with war games along Ukraine's borders
Russia on Friday prepared to hold fresh military exercises near its border with Ukraine amid renewed diplomatic talks between the Kremlin and Europe, the latter of which fears an invasion of the ex-Soviet state.
Moscow has around 100,000 troops stationed close to Ukraine's frontier and Western leaders have scrambled to hold talks with Russia.
The Russian defence ministry said 400 of its troops would participate Friday in a "tactical exercise" in the southern Rostov region bordering Ukraine.
Seventy military vehicles, tanks, grenade launchers and unmanned aerial equipment would be involved in the exercises, it said, adding that the soldiers would stage "combat operations".
In a separate statement, the ministry said its Black Sea Fleet had also held drills including training on "searching and destroying ships of a mock enemy".
It said this was part of a "combat training plan of the Black Sea Fleet."
Russia is also holding live-fire drills on the territory of its ally Belarus, which also borders Ukraine.
11:10 am Paris time: 'Difficult' four-way Ukraine talks to resume in March
German, Russian, Ukrainian and French representatives have agreed to meet again in March after "difficult talks" in Berlin, sources close to French and German negotiators told AFP on Friday.
The meeting in the so-called four-way "Normandy" format late Thursday lasted more than nine hours, the sources said.
"These were difficult talks in which the different positions and various options for a solution were clearly worked out," they said.
Participants from all four countries, however, remain committed to the 2015 Minsk peace agreement between Kyiv and Moscow on the separatist conflict, and will "continue to work with vigour on implementing it", they said.
They have agreed to meet again in March after the next series of meetings of the so-called Trilateral Contact Group, which includes representatives of Russia, Ukraine and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and REUTERS)
