Closing summary
The US permanent representative to NATO has branded Donald Trump’s suggestion that the US would not protect its allies from Russian invasion as “dangerous and irresponsible”. In scripted, but unusually frank remarks, Julianne Smith told reporters his recent remarks put military personnel in danger.
Russia is preparing for a military confrontation with the West within the next decade and could be deterred by a counter build-up of armed forces, Estonia’s Foreign Intelligence Service said. A growing number of Western officials have warned of a military threat from Russia to countries along the eastern flank of Nato, calling for Europe to get prepared by rearming, Reuters reported.
Moscow has put the Estonian prime minister, Kaja Kallas, and other Baltic states officials on a wanted list, as Tallinn warns of an imminent Russian military buildup along its border. The Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, said the Estonian state secretary, Taimar Peterkop; the Lithuanian culture minister, Simonas Kairys, and Kallas were accused of “destroying monuments to Soviet soldiers”, a reference to the removal of Soviet-era second world war memorials.
Estonia’s prime minister Kaja Kallas said on Tuesday she would not be silenced and continue her strong support to Ukraine after Russian police put her on a wanted list. She said: “I will continue my strong support to Ukraine. I will continue to stand for increasing Europe’s defence.”
The Democratic-led US Senate has voted to pass a $95.34bn aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. The bill appears to face long odds of getting to the floor in the House, where the Republican speaker, Mike Johnson, criticised it for lacking conservative provisions to stem a record flow of migrants across the US-Mexico border.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy welcomed the US Senate vote to support a bill envisaging $61 billion in aid for Ukraine. “American assistance brings just peace in Ukraine closer and restores global stability, resulting in increased security and prosperity for all Americans and all the free world,” he said on X.
US Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday said he was confident a $95 billion bill providing assistance to Ukraine, Israel and other allies would pass the House of Representatives with support from both Republicans and Democrats if there were a vote. Speaking hours after the Senate backed the bill in a pre-dawn vote, he called on House leaders to do the right thing and allow a vote.
Russia attacked the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro with missiles and drones on Tuesday, damaging a power plant and cutting off water supplies to some residents, Ukrainian officials and media said. The city of just under one million people came under attack from a missile and four groups of drones approaching from the south, east and north, Ukraine Air Force said on the Telegram messaging app, Reuters reported.
Russian forces are buying Starlink satellite internet terminals in “Arab countries” for use on the battlefield, Ukraine’s military spy agency has said. The Elon Musk-owned service has been vital to Kyiv’s battlefield communications, but Ukrainian officials have said Russian forces are also increasingly relying on it during their nearly two-year-old invasion, Reuters reported.
Russia has lost more than 3,000 tanks during its invasion of Ukraine - the equivalent of its entire pre-war active inventory - but has enough lower-quality armoured vehicles in storage for years of replacements, a leading research centre said. Ukraine has also suffered heavy loses since the invasion began in February 2022 but Western military replenishments have allowed it to maintain inventories while upgrading quality, the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies said in its annual Military Balance report, Reuters reported.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has dismissed European warnings about “Russian propaganda”, saying that anything which countered the mainstream narrative was now labelled as propaganda by the West. Peskov was asked about a Monday meeting between the foreign ministers of France, Germany and Poland at which they warned of a spike in Russian propaganda in European countries ahead of June’s elections to the European Parliament.
Russia’s response to the West’s seizure of its assets will be “tough,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Tuesday, state news agency TASS reported. “The attitude to the West will be like to thieves,” Zakharova said.
That’s it from me, Tom Ambrose, and indeed the Ukraine live blog for today. Thanks for following along.
You can continue to get all the latest news from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine here. Goodbye for now.
“I hope my ex has been killed by a rocket,” says one message. “I feel ashamed that I miss my cats more than my own dad,” writes somebody else. “I want to kill my father for his Soviet beliefs,” confesses a third. “I can’t wank,” confides one person. Another: “I wank every day.”
And someone else: “I want to have amazing sex before the nuclear strike, but in two months, I haven’t had the emotional resources to even open Tinder.”
These intimate confessions are displayed on a wall of the Jam Factory, an elegant arts centre in the city of Lviv in western Ukraine that has, improbably, opened in the thick of Russia’s invasion.
They are taken from a collection of anonymous wartime “secrets” that artist Bohdana Zaiats collated using an online Google form, and posted on Instagram. Each provides a fleeting insight into the most private, unsayable thoughts of Ukrainians reeling from the heartbreak and dislocation brought about by war.
It is one of the most fragile and vulnerable moments in the Jam Factory’s opening exhibition, titled Our Years, Our Words, Our Losses, Our Searches, Our Us. The show – curated by Kateryna Iakovlenko, Natalia Matsenko and Borys Filonenko – zooms in on such raw emotion, bringing together works that express the tender quiddities of inner lives in ways that journalism or documentary cannot.
But it also zooms out – on to a historical panorama stretching back as far as the 19th century, one that is frequently troubling, painful and complex.
US Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday said he was confident a $95 billion bill providing assistance to Ukraine, Israel and other allies would pass the House of Representatives with support from both Republicans and Democrats if there were a vote.
Speaking hours after the Senate backed the bill in a pre-dawn vote, he called on House leaders to do the right thing and allow a vote.
Estonia’s prime minister Kaja Kallas said on Tuesday she would not be silenced and continue her strong support to Ukraine after Russian police put her on a wanted list.
She said:
I will continue my strong support to Ukraine. I will continue to stand for increasing Europe’s defence.
The US Senate has passed an emergency spending package that would provide military aid to Ukraine and Israel, replenish US weapons systems and provide food, water and other humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza.
About $60 billion would go to supporting Ukraine as it defends itself from the Russian invasion that began nearly two years ago. About $14.1 billion would go to support Israel and US military operations in the region.
In response to China, the bill includes about $1.9 billion to replenish US weapons provided to Taiwan and about $3.3 billion to build more submarines in support of a security partnership with Australia and the United Kingdom. The bill’s fate in the House is uncertain.
Read live updates by my colleague Martin Pengelly here:
Updated
The US permanent representative to NATO has branded Donald Trump’s suggestion that the US would not protect its allies from Russian invasion as “dangerous and irresponsible”.
In scripted, but unusually frank remarks, Julianne Smith told reporters his recent remarks put military personnel in danger.
“Encouraging the Kremlin to attack any NATO ally or alliance territory really puts our soldiers, US soldiers and our allies soldiers in greater danger. Doing so; making those types of statements is dangerous and frankly irresponsible,” she told reporters in Brussels.
On the question of Russia willing or preparing to launch an attack on a NATO ally whether or not it wins in Ukraine, Smith said the alliance was “preparing for all contingencies”
“We have seen the classic playbook that Russia prefers to use to undermine the alliance’s strengths and we are not wasting any time to prepare for a variety of contingencies. Russia remains our No 1 focus. We made clear in the strategic concept that was released in 2022 that Russia is the primary threat that we are facing here inside the Alliance, in addition to the threat of terrorism.”
Updated
Summary
Russia is preparing for a military confrontation with the West within the next decade and could be deterred by a counter build-up of armed forces, Estonia’s Foreign Intelligence Service said. A growing number of Western officials have warned of a military threat from Russia to countries along the eastern flank of Nato, calling for Europe to get prepared by rearming, Reuters reported.
Moscow has put the Estonian prime minister, Kaja Kallas, and other Baltic states officials on a wanted list, as Tallinn warns of an imminent Russian military buildup along its border. The Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, said the Estonian state secretary, Taimar Peterkop; the Lithuanian culture minister, Simonas Kairys, and Kallas were accused of “destroying monuments to Soviet soldiers”, a reference to the removal of Soviet-era second world war memorials.
The Democratic-led US Senate has voted to pass a $95.34bn aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. The bill appears to face long odds of getting to the floor in the House, where the Republican speaker, Mike Johnson, criticised it for lacking conservative provisions to stem a record flow of migrants across the US-Mexico border.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy welcomed the US Senate vote to support a bill envisaging $61 billion in aid for Ukraine. “American assistance brings just peace in Ukraine closer and restores global stability, resulting in increased security and prosperity for all Americans and all the free world,” he said on X.
Russia attacked the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro with missiles and drones on Tuesday, damaging a power plant and cutting off water supplies to some residents, Ukrainian officials and media said. The city of just under one million people came under attack from a missile and four groups of drones approaching from the south, east and north, Ukraine Air Force said on the Telegram messaging app, Reuters reported.
Russian forces are buying Starlink satellite internet terminals in “Arab countries” for use on the battlefield, Ukraine’s military spy agency has said. The Elon Musk-owned service has been vital to Kyiv’s battlefield communications, but Ukrainian officials have said Russian forces are also increasingly relying on it during their nearly two-year-old invasion, Reuters reported.
Russia has lost more than 3,000 tanks during its invasion of Ukraine - the equivalent of its entire pre-war active inventory - but has enough lower-quality armoured vehicles in storage for years of replacements, a leading research centre said. Ukraine has also suffered heavy loses since the invasion began in February 2022 but Western military replenishments have allowed it to maintain inventories while upgrading quality, the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies said in its annual Military Balance report, Reuters reported.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has dismissed European warnings about “Russian propaganda”, saying that anything which countered the mainstream narrative was now labelled as propaganda by the West. Peskov was asked about a Monday meeting between the foreign ministers of France, Germany and Poland at which they warned of a spike in Russian propaganda in European countries ahead of June’s elections to the European Parliament.
Russia’s response to the West’s seizure of its assets will be “tough,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Tuesday, state news agency TASS reported. “The attitude to the West will be like to thieves,” Zakharova said.
Russia has hit Kyiv with what was probably a hypersonic Zircon missile, its first use in the nearly two-year-old war, a Ukrainian research institute has said. The Zircon has a range of 1,000km (625 miles) and travels at nine times the speed of sound, according to Russia. The Kyiv Scientific Research Institute for Forensic Examinations said pieces of debris that matched Zircon components were found after a strike on 7 February.
Russia said it completed testing of the Zircon missile in June 2022, and Vladimir Putin described it as part of a new generation of unrivalled arms systems. Russia has also attacked Ukraine with the Kinzhal hypersonic missile – which turned out to be a ground-launched ballistic missile dropped from a plane. It was supposed to be unstoppable, but Ukrainian troops have regularly shot them down with Patriot missiles.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched a missile and drone attack on Monday on the central city of Dnipro and the mayor said infrastructure had been hit. Suspilne public television quoted the water authority as saying power cuts had closed a pumping station and supplies were cut to certain districts.
A major Moscow-based online network has been spreading pro-Russian Ukraine war propaganda and disinformation in western Europe, French military and cybersecurity experts say. France’s Vignium agency, which works against foreign entities trying to sway public opinion, says the network, dubbed Portal Kombat, has operated at least 193 sites disseminating pro-Russian propaganda defending the invasion of Ukraine and criticising the government in Kyiv.
Moscow has put the Estonian prime minister, Kaja Kallas, and other Baltic states officials on a wanted list, as Tallinn warns of an imminent Russian military buildup along its border.
The Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, said the Estonian state secretary, Taimar Peterkop; the Lithuanian culture minister, Simonas Kairys, and Kallas were accused of “destroying monuments to Soviet soldiers”, a reference to the removal of Soviet-era second world war memorials
“This is only the start,” Zakharova wrote on her telegram channel. “Crimes against the memory of the world’s liberators from nazism and fascism must be prosecuted.” The exact charges against the three have not been revealed by Russian authorities.
Moscow has placed multiple senior Kyiv officials and generals on its wanted list since the start of the Ukraine war, but Kallas is the first known government head to be sought by Moscow.
Zelenskiy hails US Senate vote backing bill to supply Ukraine aid
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy welcomed the US Senate vote to support a bill envisaging $61 billion in aid for Ukraine.
“American assistance brings just peace in Ukraine closer and restores global stability, resulting in increased security and prosperity for all Americans and all the free world,” he said on X.
I am grateful to @SenSchumer, @LeaderMcConnell, and every US Senator who has supported continued assistance to Ukraine as we fight for freedom, democracy, and the values we all hold dear.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) February 13, 2024
For us in Ukraine, continued US assistance helps to save human lives from Russian terror.…
Funding is crucial for Kyiv’s ability to repel Russian attacks and keep its battered economy going as the war nears its third year.
The US bill is yet to be voted on in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, where it has long faced opposition.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has dismissed European warnings about “Russian propaganda”, saying that anything which countered the mainstream narrative was now labelled as propaganda by the West.
Peskov was asked about a Monday meeting between the foreign ministers of France, Germany and Poland at which they warned of a spike in Russian propaganda in European countries ahead of June’s elections to the European Parliament.
In a call with reporters, the Kremlin spokesman said:
It is obvious now that any sources, media or materials from the internet that do not meet the criteria, do not operate within the information mainstream and try to cover events from different sides, are immediately recognised as propaganda tools.
This is absolutely contrary to the ideals of a free press and once again demonstrates the authorities’ readiness to punish media they dislike. This happens often in Europe now.
US Senate votes to pass aid package
The Democratic-led US Senate has voted to pass a $95.34bn aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
The bill appears to face long odds of getting to the floor in the House, where the Republican speaker, Mike Johnson, criticised it for lacking conservative provisions to stem a record flow of migrants across the US-Mexico border.
“In the absence of having received any single border policy change from the Senate, the House will have to continue to work its own will on these important matters,” Johnson said in a statement late on Monday.
“America deserves better than the Senate’s status quo,” said Johnson.
Updated
A Russian appeal court has significantly toughened the sentence for sociologist and activist Boris Kagarlitsky, replacing a fine with a five-year prison term, Russian media reported from the courtroom.
Kagarlitsky, 64, who has repeatedly spoken out against Russia’s war against Ukraine, was accused by Russian authorities of “justifying terrorism”. Kagarlitsky denies the charges, Reuters reported.
A different court had handed him to a 600,000 rouble ($6,581) fine in December 2023 and released him from custody. But the prosecutor’s office appealed the sentence.
US Senate begins voting on aid package for Ukraine
The US Senate has begun voting on passage of a $95.34 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, amid growing doubts about the legislation’s fate in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
The lawmakers need to reach a 60-vote threshold to send the legislation on to the House. It was not clear how long the chamber would take to complete the pre-dawn vote, Reuters reported.
Democratic president Joe Biden has been urging Congress to hurry the new aid to Ukraine and US partners in the Indo-Pacific, including Taiwan, for months. After Hamas’ attack on Israel, he also requested funds for the US ally, along with humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza.
Ukrainian officials have also warned of weapons shortages at a time when Russia is pressing ahead with renewed attacks. But both houses of Congress must approve the legislation before Biden can sign it into law.
Updated
Russia has lost more than 3,000 tanks during its invasion of Ukraine - the equivalent of its entire pre-war active inventory - but has enough lower-quality armoured vehicles in storage for years of replacements, a leading research centre said.
Ukraine has also suffered heavy loses since the invasion began in February 2022 but Western military replenishments have allowed it to maintain inventories while upgrading quality, the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies said in its annual Military Balance report, Reuters reported.
“Moscow has been able to trade quality for quantity though, by pulling thousands of older tanks out of storage at a rate that may, at times, have reached 90 tanks per month,” said the report, a key reference tool for defence analysts.
Russia’s stored inventories mean Moscow “could potentially sustain around three more years of heavy losses and replenish tanks from stocks, even if at lower-technical standard, irrespective of its ability to produce new equipment,” the report said.
Russia puts Estonian PM on wanted list
Russia has put Estonian prime minister Kaja Kallas on a wanted list, an official register showed on Tuesday, as tensions soar between Russia and the West over Ukraine.
Kallas’ name appeared on the interior ministry’s register of people wanted in connection with criminal charges. It didn’t specify what charges Kallas was facing, AP reported.
It is the first time the ministry has put a foreign leader on a wanted list. Kallas has been a strong supporter of Ukraine, spearheading efforts to increase military assistance to Kyiv and tighten sanctions against Russia.
She also has angered Moscow by pushing for the removal of monuments to Soviet World War II soldiers. Russia has laws criminalising the “rehabilitation of Nazis” that include clauses punishing the desecration of war memorials.
Estonian secretary of state Taimar Peterkop was also put on the wanted list, according to the register.
Updated
Russia preparing for military confrontation with West, says Estonia
Russia is preparing for a military confrontation with the West within the next decade and could be deterred by a counter build-up of armed forces, Estonia’s Foreign Intelligence Service said.
A growing number of Western officials have warned of a military threat from Russia to countries along the eastern flank of Nato, calling for Europe to get prepared by rearming, Reuters reported.
The chief of the intelligence service said the assessment was based on Russian plans to double the number of forces stationed along its border with Nato members Finland and the Baltic States of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia.
“Russia has chosen a path which is a long-term confrontation ... and the Kremlin is probably anticipating a possible conflict with Nato within the next decade or so,” Kaupo Rosin told reporters at the release of Estonia’s national security threats report.
A military attack by Russia is “highly unlikely” in the short term, he said, partly because Russia has to keep troops in Ukraine, and would remain unlikely if Russian buildup of forces was matched in Europe.
“If we are not prepared, the likelihood [of a military Russian attack] would be much higher than without any preparation,” Rosin added.
Estonia and the other Baltic States have increased their military spending to over 2% of the value of their economies after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, and Nato allies have raised their presence in those countries.
The Democratic-led US Senate was expected to vote early on Tuesday for final passage of a $95.34 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, amid growing doubts about the legislation’s fate in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
Soon after lawmakers swept aside the last procedural hurdle facing the legislation late on Monday, Republican opponents of the bill took to the Senate floor for an overnight marathon of speeches, Reuters reported. Aides predicted that a vote on passage could begin before 7am EST (12pm GMT) on Tuesday.
Senate passage appears certain. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has been able to deliver the support of least 17 members of his party conference, more than enough to exceed the 100-seat chamber’s 60-vote threshold for passage.
But both houses of Congress must approve the legislation before Democratic president Joe Biden can sign it into law. And the bill faces long odds in the House, where Republican speaker Mike Johnson faulted the measure for lacking conservative provisions to stem a record flow of migrants across the US-Mexico border.
Russian air attack damages Dnipro power plant, Ukraine says
Russia attacked the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro with missiles and drones on Tuesday, damaging a power plant and cutting off water supplies to some residents, Ukrainian officials and media said.
The city of just under one million people came under attack from a missile and four groups of drones approaching from the south, east and north, Ukraine Air Force said on the Telegram messaging app, Reuters reported.
Ukraine’s largest private energy provider, DTEK, said that a thermal power plant was significantly damaged. There were no casualties, it added.
The company did not say where the power plant was located, but Dnipro’s water utility company said on Telegram that “due to power outages” water supply had been partially suspended and Ukrainian media outlets said a power plant in Dnipro was hit.
Dnipro Mayor Borys Filatov said infrastructure had been hit, but gave no further details.
Russia’s response to the West’s seizure of its assets will be “tough,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Tuesday, state news agency TASS reported.
“The attitude to the West will be like to thieves,” Zakharova said.
Opening summary
Good morning and welcome to the Ukraine live blog. We start with news that Russian forces are buying Starlink satellite internet terminals in “Arab countries” for use on the battlefield, Ukraine’s military spy agency has said.
The Elon Musk-owned service has been vital to Kyiv’s battlefield communications, but Ukrainian officials have said Russian forces are also increasingly relying on it during their nearly two-year-old invasion, Reuters reported.
The defence ministry’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (GUR) released what it said was an audio intercept of two Russian soldiers discussing buying units from Arab providers for around 200,000 roubles ($2,200) each.
“The aggressor state Russia is purchasing communications equipment, including Starlink satellite Internet terminals, for use in the war in Arab countries,” the ministry said on Telegram.
On Monday, GUR spokesman Andriy Yusov told Reuters that Russian forces were purchasing the terminals through unspecified third countries.
Starlink has said it does not do business with Russia or operate on Russian territory. The Kremlin said the terminals were neither certified for use in, nor officially supplied to, Russia, and therefore could not be used.
In other news:
Russia has hit Kyiv with what was probably a hypersonic Zircon missile, its first use in the nearly two-year-old war, a Ukrainian research institute has said. The Zircon has a range of 1,000km (625 miles) and travels at nine times the speed of sound, according to Russia. The Kyiv Scientific Research Institute for Forensic Examinations said pieces of debris that matched Zircon components were found after a strike on 7 February.
Russia said it completed testing of the Zircon missile in June 2022, and Vladimir Putin described it as part of a new generation of unrivalled arms systems. Russia has also attacked Ukraine with the Kinzhal hypersonic missile – which turned out to be a ground-launched ballistic missile dropped from a plane. It was supposed to be unstoppable, but Ukrainian troops have regularly shot them down with Patriot missiles.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched a missile and drone attack on Monday on the central city of Dnipro and the mayor said infrastructure had been hit. Suspilne public television quoted the water authority as saying power cuts had closed a pumping station and supplies were cut to certain districts.
A major Moscow-based online network has been spreading pro-Russian Ukraine war propaganda and disinformation in western Europe, French military and cybersecurity experts say. France’s Vignium agency, which works against foreign entities trying to sway public opinion, says the network, dubbed Portal Kombat, has operated at least 193 sites disseminating pro-Russian propaganda defending the invasion of Ukraine and criticising the government in Kyiv.
Hundreds of mourners on Monday attended the funeral of a family of five, including three small children, burned to death in a Russian drone attack in the north-eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. Russian drones struck a fuel depot on Friday evening, triggering fires that engulfed an entire street, including the house in which the Putyatina family lived. An elderly couple died in the same street. More than 50 people were injured and 15 homes burned down.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Ukraine’s president, is planning a tour of western European capitals to lobby for aid for Ukraine around this week’s Munich security conference, Bloomberg News has reported.
The EU has adopted a law to set aside windfall profits made on about €300bn in frozen Russian central bank assets, in a first concrete step towards using the money to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine. The EU and G7 have been debating for over a year if and how the funds can be used.
After Vladimir Putin gave US interviewer Tucker Carlson his exhaustive version of Russia’s historical glory, a Mongolian leader has trolled Vladimir Putin over the size of defunct Eurasian empires. “After Putin’s talk. I found Mongolian historic map. Don’t worry. We are a peaceful and free nation,” wrote Tsakhia Elbegdorj, former Mongolian president, on Twitter/X. Elbegdorj, who was previously also Mongolian prime minister, is an international figure and was a leader in Monglia’s 1990 democratic revolution ending communist rule.
Russia on Monday imposed sanctions on 18 British citizens for what Moscow said was demonising Russia and escalating the war in Ukraine. Russia imposed what it called personal sanctions against deputy defence minister James Cartlidge, and a number of other officials and academics including historians Orlando Figes and Norman Davies and Russia specialist James Sherr.
