Here is the situation as it stands on Tuesday, February 21, 2023:
Diplomacy
- US President Joe Biden made an unannounced visit to Kyiv and pledged additional assistance to Ukraine worth $500m that will include artillery ammunition, anti-armour systems and air surveillance radars.
- Biden is next set to consult with allies from NATO’s eastern flank in Poland as the Russian invasion of Ukraine edges towards a complicated stage.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to make an important address, setting out aims for the second year of what he now calls a proxy war against the armed might of Washington and the transatlantic military alliance NATO.
- Some right-wing US Republicans have slammed Biden’s visit to Ukraine, invoking crises at home that they accuse the president of ignoring as he pledges support for Kyiv.
- China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, is expected to visit Moscow with proposals for a political settlement to the conflict.
- Japan will chair on Thursday an event that will bring together finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of Seven (G7) nations to discuss measures to pressure Russia to end the Ukraine war.
- China is “deeply concerned” that the Ukraine conflict could spiral out of control, Foreign Minister Qin Gang said, and called on certain countries to stop “fuelling the fire” in an apparent dig at the United States.
- Qin’s comments came as Russian news agency TASS reported that Wang was due to arrive in Moscow before a “peace speech” China’s President Xi Jinping is expected to deliver on Friday, the anniversary of the Ukraine invasion.
- Beijing has strongly denied US claims that China was considering arming Russia in its war against Ukraine as it called for “peace-loving” nations to act to end the conflict.
- The Australian government has said it was aligned with 34 other nations on the call for the International Olympic Committee to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from its competitions, despite not being marked as a signatory to the statement.
- The UN Security Council is due to meet to discuss “sabotage” after Moscow asked for an independent inquiry into the explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines in September last year.
Fighting
- Yevgeny Prigozhin, the billionaire founder of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, accused unspecified officials of denying his fighters sufficient ammunition as part of an ongoing rivalry between him and parts of the Russian elite.
- Human Rights Watch accused Russia of committing a “war crime” with a missile attack in April that killed some 60 fleeing civilians at a railway station in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine.
- The European Commission was exploring ways to leverage the bloc’s budget to provide down payments to arms manufacturers to incentivise increased production, the Financial Times reported, citing people briefed on the plans.
- Britain’s King Charles III visited Ukrainian recruits who are being trained in the UK.
