Closing summary
It’s nearly 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
A British national has died in Ukraine, the UK government has said. The identity of the individual is not yet known, but their family has been informed. They are believed to be the eighth British national to have died in Ukraine since the war began last February.
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. Ukraine denies it intends to leave Bakhmut, despite six months of heavy fighting and reportedly dwindling stockpiles. The capture of Bakhmut would give Russia a significant symbolic boost ahead of the first anniversary of the war.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner group whose mercenaries have been fighting for months to take the eastern city of Bakhmut, has said the battle is far from over. In a Telegram post, Prigozhin said Ukraine was reinforcing with up to 500 new fighters a day. “Bakhmut will not be taken tomorrow, because there is heavy resistance and grinding, the meat grinder is working,” he said, adding “We will not be celebrating in the near future.”
Russian forces have made incremental progress in the last day or two in their assault on the Ukrainian city of Bahkmut but it is unclear if it will fall, the White House has said. John Kirby, the US national security council spokesperson, added that if Bakhmut were to fall to the Russians “it would not have a strategic impact on the overall war”.
Wagner Group forces have almost certainly made further small gains over the last three days around the northern outskirts of Bakhmut, including into the village of Krasna Hora, the UK Ministry of Defence has said. However, organised Ukrainian defence continues in the area and the tactical Russian advance to the south of the town has likely made little progress, the latest British intelligence report adds.
One Ukrainian worker was killed and many have been hurt in recent days trying to repair the power network following Russian airstrikes, according to energy minister German Galushchenko. Russian unleashed a wave of airstrikes on Friday, targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and causing emergency power outages for millions of people. In a statement, Galushchenko and Ukraine’s grid operator Ukrenergy said the country was producing enough energy to meet consumers’ needs.
Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, has taken part in the Nato ministerial talks in Brussels. Reznikov said his goals included protecting Ukraine’s skies, “strengthening the tank coalition”, securing sufficient ammunition, ensuring more training for the Ukrainian army and stable logistics, maintenance and repair of weapons. A meeting of the Ukraine defence contact group, a US-initiative that convenes more than 50 countries supporting Kyiv in its defence against Russian aggression, met in Brussels ahead of Nato ministerial talks.
The US secretary of defence, Lloyd Austin, has said he expects Ukraine to conduct an offensive against Russia in spring. Speaking at a news conference following a meeting of the Ukraine defence contact group, Austin said Russia is introducing a number of new troops to the battlefield but that many are ill-trained and ill-equipped. Russia has “inflicted a year of tragedy and terror” on its neighbour Ukraine, he said.
Russia has lost “strategically, operationally and tactically”, Gen Mark Milley, chairman of America’s joint chiefs of staff, has said. Speaking at a joint news conference with Lloyd Austin, Milley said Russians were “paying an enormous price on the battlefield” in Ukraine.
The Nato secretary general has urged members of the transatlantic military alliance to ramp up ammunition production for Ukraine. Jens Stoltenberg warned Vladimir Putin was preparing for new offensives and attacks, and that the question of supplying fighter jets to Ukraine was on the agenda but “not the most urgent issue now”.
Norway has announced it will send eight German-made Leopard 2 battle tanks and other equipment to Ukraine. In a statement, Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre said it was “more crucial than ever to support Ukraine’s fight for freedom”. The announcement comes a day after Støre spoke with Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a phone call, where the pair discussed Norway’s five-year pledge for Ukraine.
Germany has signed contracts with Rheinmetall to restart the production of ammunition for the Gepard anti-aircraft guns it has delivered to Kyiv, the German defence minister, Boris Pistorius, has said. “We will quickly start our own production of Gepard ammunition at Rheinmetall. I am very happy we have been able to guarantee the delivery of this important part of air defence,” Pistorius said before a meeting with Nato ministers in Brussels.
The US has told Ukraine it will not send long-range missiles because it has too few to spare, according to a report. US officials have said transferring Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) to the battlefield in Ukraine would risk a shortage of its own stockpiles and damage its own readiness for any fight in the future, sources have told Politico.
A South Korean court has granted two Russians who fled their country to avoid being drafted to fight in Ukraine the right to apply for refugee status. The two men, who have been stranded at Incheon International Airport, near Seoul, since last October, will be able to leave the terminal building and enter the country, the court said. The court denied a similar request from a third Russian citizen, without detailing the reasons for the decision.
Two Dutch F-35 fighters were scrambled to intercept three Russian military aircraft near Poland, according to the Netherlands’ defence ministry. Poland’s defence ministry confirmed that Dutch F-35 fighter jets were scrambled on Monday to intercept three Russian aircraft. The F-35 fighters were operating over international waters and Polish airspace was not violated, it said.
The UK says it will mark the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with a national moment of silence. Prime minister Rishi Sunak will lead a one-minute silence at 1100 GMT on 24 February, in an expression of solidarity with Ukraine.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, has admitted that he founded and financed a company the US has described as a “Russian troll farm” which meddled in the 2016 presidential election. Prigozhin’s statement outlined his specific links to the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a St Petersburg-based company that US intelligence officials say was central to Russian efforts to sway the 2016 presidential election.
Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, has appointed three new deputies after a corruption scandal which forced out one of his deputies and put his own position in doubt.
Reznikov, one of Ukraine’s better-known figures internationally, had pledged to tackle graft after it emerged the defence ministry paid twice or three times the supermarket price of food to supply troops on the frontline.
One of his deputies resigned following the allegation, which the ministry has denied. Two others were dismissed on Tuesday.
The Ukrainian government said it had confirmed Lieutenant-General Oleksandr Pavliuk, who briefly served as Kyiv region governor during the early days of Russia’s invasion, as the most senior of his deputies.
Andriy Shevchenko, a former ambassador to Canada, and Vitaliy Deyneha, an IT professional who co-founded an NGO that raises funds for the military, were nominated as junior deputies.
At least 6,000 Ukrainian children held in Russia for ‘re-education’ - report
Russia has held at least 6,000 Ukrainian children, likely many more, in sites whose primary purpose appears to be political re-education, a US-backed report has said.
Researchers from Yale University identified at least 43 camps and other facilities in Russian-held Crimea and Russia, where Ukrainian children have been held as part of a “large-scale systematic network” operated by Russia since its invasion of Ukraine last year, the report said.
The children held in these sites included those with parents or clear familial guardians, those Russia deemed orphans, and other children who were in the care of Ukrainian state institutions before the invasion, it said.
Some of the children were moved through the system and adopted by Russian families, or moved into foster care in Russia, the report said.
The youngest child identified was just four months old, and some camps were giving military training to children as young as 14, it said.
Nathaniel Raymond, one of the researchers, said in a briefing:
What is documented in this report is a clear violation of the 4th Geneva Convention.
He said it could also be evidence that Russia has committed genocide during its war in Ukraine, since the transfer of children for purposes of changing, altering or eliminating national identity can constitute a component act of the crime of genocide.
Russian forces have made incremental progress in the last day or two in their assault on the Ukrainian city of Bahkmut but it is unclear if it will fall, the White House has said.
John Kirby, the US national security council spokesperson, added that if Bakhmut were to fall to the Russians “it would not have a strategic impact on the overall war”.
British national dies in Ukraine, says UK foreign office
A British national has died in Ukraine, the UK government has said.
A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson said:
We are supporting the family of a British national who died in Ukraine, and are in contact with the local authorities.
Updated
Here are some of the latest images we have received from Ukraine.
A South Korean court has granted two Russians who fled their country to avoid being drafted to fight in Ukraine the right to apply for refugee status.
The two men, who have been stranded at Incheon International Airport, near Seoul, since last October, will be able to leave the terminal building and enter the country, the court said.
The court denied a similar request from a third Russian citizen, without detailing the reasons for the decision.
The three Russian citizens, whose lawyer requested they not be named out of concern for the safety of their families in Russia, have been living inside the airport since October.
They landed in South Korea with hopes of being granted asylum, but the justice ministry rejected their applications, saying that avoiding military service did not qualify as a valid reason for receiving asylum in South Korea.
“We welcome the court’s decision on the two but it is regrettable that it rejected the other one’s plea,” said Lee Jong-chan, a lawyer representing the three. He added:
They came here trying to avoid killing innocent people and getting themselves killed in a war initiated by their home country. It took them four months just to win the right to apply for refugee status.
The two will now be allowed to end their airport stay and will be settled in South Korea while undergoing the asylum recognition process, which could take years.
The third Russian has the right to appeal his rejection, but he must remain living at the airport in the interim. Lee said returning to Russia was not a viable option for the third man.
Russian convicts have said they are being employed by the country’s defence ministry to fight as “cannon fodder” in Ukraine, according to a report.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Russian Wagner mercenary group, said last week that the recruitment of prisoners by Wagner “has completely stopped”.
Instead, CNN reports that Russia is pursuing a disturbing new strategy of directly employing convicts to fight in Ukraine. In an audio recording obtained by the news channel, a Russian convict who was sent from prison to fight tells his wife:
I am being taken to be shot. I lost a lot of people there. Remember this: do not send more people here. It’s enough, they want to kill us all.
A Ukrainian intelligence official confirmed to the news channel that Russian prisoners recently captured by Ukrainian forces had said they were directly employed by the defence ministry.
The official said this new strategy had “echoes of internal squabbling among the Russian military leadership” including among the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, and Valery Gerasimov, the overall commander for the war in Ukraine.
The EU will launch an ad hoc group to investigate how billions of dollars in frozen Russian funds, including central bank reserves, can be used for reconstruction work in Ukraine, according to the Swedish government.
Speaking at a news conference in Stockholm, prime minister Ulf Kristersson said:
The mandate is to contribute to mapping which funds have been frozen in the European Union ... and secondly how to legally proceed to access those funds.
There is no prior model for how to handle the Russian assets, and the EU must ensure that appropriate legal procedures are established, he said.
He added:
It’s Russian tax payers, not all other tax payers, who must bear the cost of the necessary reconstruction work.
Bakhmut will not be captured 'in the near future', says Wagner boss
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner group whose mercenaries have been fighting for months to take the eastern city of Bakhmut, has said the battle is far from over.
In a Telegram post, Prigozhin said Ukraine was reinforcing with up to 500 new fighters a day.
According to his press service, Prigozhin said:
Bakhmut will not be taken tomorrow, because there is heavy resistance and grinding, the meat grinder is working.
“We will not be celebrating in the near future,” he added.
His comments came as Ukrainian forces have reportedly blown up a bridge near Bakhmut, in a sign they may be planning to retreat from the area.
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.
Updated
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.
Countering denials by Iran’s foreign ministry that its drones had been used in deadly attacks in Ukraine, including against civilian energy infrastructure, the officials shared declassified intelligence demonstrating that Iranian drones used in attacks in the Middle East – including one claimed by Iran – were identical in all significant features to drones being used in Ukraine.
One official described Tehran as having emerged as a global leader in the production of cheap and very effective drones.
Although the supply of Iranian drones to Moscow for its war in Ukraine has long been treated as fact in much reporting, as well as in multiple US briefings that have sought to describe the increasingly close military cooperation between Iran and Russia, the officials stressed that the point of their briefing was to persuade sceptics in a global audience of the depth of the intelligence the US has amassed on Iran’s drone shipments.
Iran has supplied three models of drone to Russia: Shahed 131 and 136 single-use kamikaze drones, used by Moscow as a cheaper alternative to cruise missiles, and the Mohajer-6 multi-role drone, which can be used for intelligence gathering and to carry a missile payload.
Using in-flight footage and debris of suicide and multi-role drones used in Ukraine, the officials said they sought to prove that Iranian denials that its drones had been used were untrue, as the US seeks wider support for sanctions against Iran over its drone supplies.
Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, has been addressing a Nato summit at the military alliance’s headquarters in Brussels.
Stoltenberg begins by welcoming Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, to the meeting, and says it has been almost a year since Russia launched its full-fledged invasion of Ukraine.
He describes Russia’s war in Ukraine as having brought “untold suffering to the people of Ukraine, shattered peace in Europe and affected people around the world to the food and energy crisis”.
Vladimir Putin has made “two big strategic mistakes”, Stoltenberg says, by underestimating the “strength and bravery” of Ukraine as well as the “unity and soul” of Nato and partners.
Summary of the day so far
It’s 6pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
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. Ukraine denies it intends to leave Bakhmut, despite six months of heavy fighting and reportedly dwindling stockpiles. The capture of Bakhmut would give Russia a significant symbolic boost ahead of the first anniversary of the war.
Wagner Group forces have almost certainly made further small gains over the last three days around the northern outskirts of Bakhmut, including into the village of Krasna Hora, the UK Ministry of Defence has said. However, organised Ukrainian defence continues in the area and the tactical Russian advance to the south of the town has likely made little progress, the latest British intelligence report adds.
One Ukrainian worker was killed and many have been hurt in recent days trying to repair the power network following Russian airstrikes, according to energy minister German Galushchenko. Russian unleashed a wave of airstrikes on Friday, targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and causing emergency power outages for millions of people. In a statement, Galushchenko and Ukraine’s grid operator Ukrenergy said the country was producing enough energy to meet consumers’ needs.
The Nato secretary general has urged members of the transatlantic military alliance to ramp up ammunition production for Ukraine. Jens Stoltenberg warned Vladimir Putin was preparing for new offensives and attacks, and that the question of supplying fighter jets to Ukraine was on the agenda but “not the most urgent issue now”.
Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, is taking part in the Nato ministerial talks that begin later on Tuesday. Reznikov said his goals included protecting Ukraine’s skies, “strengthening the tank coalition”, securing sufficient ammunition, ensuring more training for the Ukrainian army and stable logistics, maintenance and repair of weapons.
A meeting of the Ukraine defence contact group, a US-initiative that convenes more than 50 countries supporting Kyiv in its defence against Russian aggression, has met in Brussels ahead of Nato ministerial talks.
The US secretary of defence, Lloyd Austin, has said he expects Ukraine to conduct an offensive against Russia in spring. Speaking at a news conference following a meeting of the Ukraine defence contact group, Austin said Russia is introducing a number of new troops to the battlefield but that many are ill-trained and ill-equipped. Russia has “inflicted a year of tragedy and terror” on its neighbour Ukraine, he said.
Russia has lost “strategically, operationally and tactically”, Gen Mark Milley, chairman of America’s joint chiefs of staff, has said. Speaking at a joint news conference with Lloyd Austin, Milley said Russians were “paying an enormous price on the battlefield” in Ukraine.
Norway has announced it will send eight German-made Leopard 2 battle tanks and other equipment to Ukraine. In a statement, Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre said it was “more crucial than ever to support Ukraine’s fight for freedom”. The announcement comes a day after Støre spoke with Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a phone call, where the pair discussed Norway’s five-year pledge for Ukraine.
Germany has signed contracts with Rheinmetall to restart the production of ammunition for the Gepard anti-aircraft guns it has delivered to Kyiv, the German defence minister, Boris Pistorius, has said. “We will quickly start our own production of Gepard ammunition at Rheinmetall. I am very happy we have been able to guarantee the delivery of this important part of air defence,” Pistorius said before a meeting with Nato ministers in Brussels.
The US has told Ukraine it will not send long-range missiles because it has too few to spare, according to a report. US officials have said transferring Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) to the battlefield in Ukraine would risk a shortage of its own stockpiles and damage its own readiness for any fight in the future, sources have told Politico.
The Kremlin has again criticised Nato over its stance towards the war in Ukraine, saying the military alliance was becoming more and more involved in the conflict in Ukraine. “Nato is an organisation which is hostile to us and which proves this hostility every day,” the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters.
Two Dutch F-35 fighters were scrambled to intercept three Russian military aircraft near Poland, according to the Netherlands’ defence ministry. Poland’s defence ministry confirmed that Dutch F-35 fighter jets were scrambled on Monday to intercept three Russian aircraft. The F-35 fighters were operating over international waters and Polish airspace was not violated, it said.
The UK says it will mark the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with a national moment of silence. Prime minister Rishi Sunak will lead a one-minute silence at 1100 GMT on 24 February, in an expression of solidarity with Ukraine.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, has admitted that he founded and financed a company the US has described as a “Russian troll farm” which meddled in the 2016 presidential election. Prigozhin’s statement outlined his specific links to the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a St Petersburg-based company that US intelligence officials say was central to Russian efforts to sway the 2016 presidential election.
Good afternoon from London. I’m Léonie Chao-Fong and I’m here to bring you all the latest developments from the war in Ukraine. Feel free to get in touch on Twitter or via email.
Russia has lost ‘strategically, operationally and tactically’, says US general
General Mark Milley, chairman of America’s joint chiefs of staff, has said Russia has lost “strategically, operationally and tactically” and that they are “paying an enormous price on the battlefield” in Ukraine.
Milley, speaking at a joint news conference with US defence secretary Lloyd Austin, said President Vladimir Putin believed he could defeat Ukraine quickly when he ordered his troops to invade almost a year ago.
[Putin] was wrong. Ukraine remains free. They remain independent. Nato and its coalition has never been stronger.
Now, Russia is a global pariah and the world remains inspired by Ukrainian bravery and resilience. In short, Russia has lost – they’ve lost strategically, operationally and tactically and they are paying an enormous price on the battlefield.
Updated
US 'expects to see Ukraine conduct offensive in spring'
The US secretary of defence, Lloyd Austin, has been speaking at a news conference in Brussels, following a meeting of the Ukraine defence contact group, a US-initiative that convenes more than 50 countries supporting Kyiv in its defence against Russian aggression.
The world will mark a “grim milestone” next week during the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he says. Moscow has “inflicted a year of tragedy and terror” on its neighbour, he says.
He said he expected Ukraine to conduct an offensive against Russia in spring. He said:
“Ukraine wants to create momentum ... We expect to see them conduct an offensive sometime in the spring.
He also said that Russia is introducing a number of new troops to the battlefield but that many are ill-trained and ill-equipped.
He added that the Ukraine defence contract group represents a rejection of Vladimir Putin’s “vision of the world – a world of chaos” that will support Ukraine’s self-defence for the long haul,.
Members of the group have given Kyiv more than eight combat brigades, which includes major contributions from the US of Bradleys and Abrams tanks, and a donation of Challenger 2 tanks from the UK, he says.
Austin says it is a priority for him and his colleagues to ensure that western donations to Ukraine will be used “as intended” and that there is a “proactive move to prevent arms proliferation”.
Updated
Talks on supplying F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine will probably bear fruit, but pressure is necessary, the Polish defence minister said on Tuesday.
“We are aware that our potential in this area is limited, because we have only 48 F-16 aircraft, but the allies have much more potential, so I think that this conversation will … end with positive decisions,” Reuters reports Mariusz Blaszczak told the media in Brussels. “You just have to apply pressure.”
The Russian foreign ministry’s spokesperson Maria Zakharova has fiercely criticised claims that Russia has been attempting to destabilise Ukraine’s neighbour Moldova. According to reports in Tass and also carried by media in Moldova, she said:
These accusations are completely unfounded. They start from the classic trick that the United States, other western countries and Ukraine often use: first they make accusations based on so-called secret information that cannot be verified, and then they use it to justify their own illegal actions.
Zakharova claimed that Kyiv was trying to “draw Chișinău into a tough confrontation with Russia.”
On Monday Moldova’s president, Maia Sandu, accused Moscow of plotting to destabilise the former Soviet republic, saying it was planning to use foreign saboteurs to bring down her country’s leadership, stop it joining the EU and use it in the war against Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said that Ukraine had uncovered a Russian intelligence plan “for the destruction of Moldova”.
Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria is controlled by Russian separatists and borders Ukraine.
Romania has reported that it deployed two MiG-21 Lancer planes to seek out what looked like a weather balloon on radar, but that they could not confirm the target, Reuters reports.
Earlier neighbouring Moldova closed its airspace without specifying a reason.
On Friday there was an incident when Moldova summoned the Russian ambassador after a missile destined for a target in Ukraine overflew its airspace. Ukrainian sources initially claimed the missile had also entered Romanian airspace, which Romania denied.
The US has told Ukraine it will not send long-range missiles because it has too few to spare, according to a report.
US officials have said transferring Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) to the battlefield in Ukraine would risk a shortage of its own stockpiles and damage its own readiness for any fight in the future, sources have told Politico.
One senior official said:
With any package, we always consider our readiness and our own stocks while providing Ukraine what it needs on the battlefield.
That concern, combined with the Biden administration’s worry that Ukraine would use the 190-mile range missiles to attack deep inside Russian territory, is why the US will not be shopping the ATACMS to the frontline any time soon, the news site writes.
One potential workaround would be for Kyiv to ask for Washington’s approval to buy ATACMS from an allied country that operates the weapon, using financing from the US, according to one person.
The list of ATACMS users includes South Korea, Poland, Romania, Greece, Turkey, Qatar and Bahrain.
Moldova has now reopened its airspace hours after closing it for security reasons, its aviation authority said.
In a brief statement, it said it would provide more information later.
Two Dutch F-35 fighters were scrambled to intercept three Russian military aircraft near Poland, according to the Netherlands’ defence ministry.
In a statement late on Monday, translated by Reuters, the defence ministry said:
The then unknown aircraft approached the Polish Nato area of responsibility from Kaliningrad. After identification, it turned out to be three aircraft: a Russian IL-20M Coot-A that was escorted by two Su-27 Flankers. The Dutch F-35s escorted the formation from a distance and handed over the escort to Nato partners.
Poland’s defence ministry confirmed that Dutch F-35 fighter jets were scrambled on Monday to intercept three Russian aircraft.
The ministry told CNN that the F-35 fighters were operating over international waters and Polish airspace was not violated.
The UK says it will mark the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with a national moment of silence.
Prime minister Rishi Sunak will lead a one-minute silence at 1100 GMT on 24 February, in an expression of solidarity with Ukraine.
In a statement, Sunak said:
As we approach the anniversary of Russia’s barbaric and deplorable invasion of Ukraine, as a nation we pay tribute to the incredible bravery and resilience of the Ukrainian people.
Russia’s unjustifiable attack brought war and destruction to our continent once again, and it has forced millions from their homes and devastated families across Ukraine and Russia.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, has admitted that he founded and financed a company the US has described as a “Russian troll farm” which meddled in the 2016 presidential election.
Prigozhin, a close ally of Vladimir Putin, has previously admitted to interfering in US elections, but his statement today outlined his specific links to the Internet Research Agency (IRA).
The St Petersburg-based company was central to Russian efforts to sway the 2016 presidential election, US intelligence officials have said.
In a statement posted to social media, Prigozhin said:
I was never just the financier of the Internet Research Agency. I thought it up, I created it, I managed it for a long time.
The IRA was “created to protect the Russian information space from the West’s boorish and aggressive anti-Russian propaganda”, he added.
Prigozhin was first sanctioned by the US over his links to Russian IRA in 2018 and charged with conspiracy to defraud the US.
Moldova has temporarily closed its airspace, its national airline has said.
In a statement on Facebook, Air Moldova urged passengers to “please stay calm” and that it was “waiting for the resumption of flights”.
The news comes at a time of tensions between Moldova and Russia, and a day after Moldova’s president, Maia Sandu, accused Moscow of plotting to destabilise the former Soviet republic.
Sandu complained on Monday that Russia was planning to use foreign saboteurs to bring down her country’s leadership, stop it joining the EU and use it in the war against Ukraine.
Her comments came after Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine had uncovered a Russian intelligence plan “for the destruction of Moldova”, and days later the country’s government resigned.
In response, Russia’s foreign ministry dismissed Sandu’s claims as “completely unfounded and unsubstantiated”, and accused Kyiv of trying to draw Moldova “into a tough confrontation with Russia”.
Crunching through the snow, a few miles from the Russian frontline, there are few visible signs of the activity going on below. At ground level, where the temperature is -6C, the background noise of artillery fire is constant: the pops of outgoing shells and the crumps of incoming ones, as the Russians attack the nearby town of Vuhledar, a fight that has already been going on for three weeks.
The military escort turns off into an ordinary dacha, and heads not for the house, but towards a nearby cellar, pushing past a dirty hanging drape. It reveals a flight of steps leading to a heavy metal door and beyond that a hi-tech command post. Inside a stove-warmed room, half a dozen soldiers from Ukraine’s 68th Jaeger infantry brigade monitor the frontline.
Here, the soldiers are armed with laptops. One constantly eyes camera footage, which can come from drones, another the Russians’ radio communications – both gathering intelligence. The frozen fields on the central screen appear quiet at that moment, but the fighting has been intense nearby, around a small coal mining town that the Ukrainians are desperate to hold.
Vladyslav (Ukraine’s military only allows first names to be used), a major, is the local commander. He explained that Vuhledar matters because it is on an elevated position, and that if the Russians capture it they will have “fire control” on villages to the north. Losing it could force a retreat closer to Kurakhove, 15 miles (24km) behind the current frontline. “No matter how good our defence line, it is going to become pointless” if the village is lost, he said.
Norway to send 8 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine
Norway has announced it will send eight German-made Leopard 2 battle tanks and other equipment to Ukraine.
In a statement, Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre said it was “more crucial than ever to support Ukraine’s fight for freedom”.
The announcement comes a day after Støre spoke with Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a phone call, where the pair discussed Norway’s five-year pledge for Ukraine.
Had a phone call with 🇳🇴 PM @jonasgahrstore. Thanked for the new defense package that will strengthen us on land, in the sky & at sea. I’m also grateful for a significant 5-year aid package being prepared for approval in 🇳🇴. We discussed further cooperation. Victorious together!
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) February 13, 2023
In addition to the eight Leopards, Norway said it will also send four special purpose tanks from its armoured engineering and bridge layer category, with the exact selection depending on what Ukraine needs the most.
It will also set aside funds for ammunition and spare parts, the Norwegian defence ministry said.
Norway, which shares a border with Russia in the Arctic, has 36 Leopard 2 tanks in total.
It appears the Kremlin is concentrating maximum force on capturing the eastern town of Bakhmut before the one-year anniversary of the invasion on 24 February.
Ukraine and its western allies have said over the last week that Russia has already begun a new offensive across the contact line in a bid to gain ground before new western supplies arrive in the spring. “It is clear that we are in a race of logistics,” Nato head, Jens Stoltenberg, told reporters in Brussels on Monday.
A Russian victory in Bakhmut would give the Kremlin a boost after months of stepbacks and a stepping stone to fight for the two next major Ukrainian-controlled towns.
Russian forces now occupy areas to the north and south of Bakhmut and have been attempting to overwhelm Ukrainian forces by ceaselessly throwing streams of infantry soldiers at the Ukrainian frontlines.
“The Russians next to Bakhmut are trying to rely more on manpower than on armored vehicles,” said Serhiy Cherevaty, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s forces in the east.
He told Ukraine’s Telemarathon on Sunday the Russians were using small tactical groups to try to approach Ukrainian troops and engage them in close combat battles – not risking their heavy equipment in the current weather conditions and Ukraine’s ability to target it.
The battle to control Bakhmut began in June and has become one of the war’s bloodiest battles, with Russia concentrating a huge number of resources on capturing the town.
Social media posts indicate that Ukraine has suffered thousands of casualties in and around Bakhmut, particularly since autumn Russia mobilised thousands of men in October. Drone footage published by Ukraine’s military as well as graveyards in southern Russia shows that Russian losses have been astronomical.
Updated
Ukrainian forces 'destroy bridge near Bakhmut' but deny plan to retreat
Ukrainian forces blew up a bridge near the eastern town of Bakhmut on Monday, according to a local Donetsk region news site, in a sign that Ukraine may be planning to retreat.
The blown-up bridge is reportedly located between Bakhmut and Konstantivka, the next major town under Ukrainian control, according to Eastern Edition, a local news Telegram channel, which posted videos from the area.
Ukrainian forces, for now, deny they intend to leave the town, despite six months of heavy fighting and reportedly dwindling stockpiles.
Aside from the blown-up bridge, the Donetsk region regional administration announced new measures restricting journalists’ access to Bakhmut on Monday, citing the danger of Russian reconnaissance groups attempting to penetrate the town.
The Russian assault on Bakhmut has been led by Wagner, a private Russian military formation with a reputation for ruthlessness. Wagner’s sponsor, Russian Yevheny Prigozhin, recruited thousands of Russian prisoners to bulk up the force in the autumn, offering them the promise of freedom after six months if they fight in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in early February that Ukraine was determined to hold Bakhmut, describing it as “Fortress Bakhmut”.
But, according to the Washington Post, US officials have tried to persuade Zelenskiy to prioritise preparations for a counteroffensive to take back what the US considers more important territory. US officials emphasised that time was of the essence as the level of US support cannot be guaranteed.
Updated
One Ukrainian worker was killed and many have been hurt in recent days trying to repair the power network following Russian airstrikes, according to energy minister German Galushchenko.
Russian unleashed a wave of airstrikes on Friday, targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and causing emergency power outages for millions of people.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia had fired 71 cruise missiles, of which 61 were shot down. At least 17 missiles hit the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia in an hour in the heaviest attack since the war began last February, local officials said.
In a statement, Galushchenko and Ukraine’s grid operator Ukrenergy said the country was producing enough energy to meet consumers’ needs.
He said:
With the incredible efforts of energy workers, it’s possible to keep the generation, delivery and distribution of electricity at the required level to meet the needs of consumers. These successes have their own high price, the price of human life. In frontline areas, energy workers work under fire and in dangerous places.
There had been a number of accidents in recent days, he said, including incidents in which workers were hurt at energy companies in the southern region of Mykolayiv and in the northeastern region of Kharkiv. He added:
Mines blew up the cars of repairmen of Mykolaivbolenergo and Kharkivbolenergo. There is a dead person, many wounded.
Ukrenergo said power plants were now generating enough electricity to cover consumption, and said electricity may have to be limited later on Tuesday in Odesa after damage to the network there.
In a video address on Sunday, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy hailed the repair efforts by Ukrainian energy workers, praising the speed at which they had restored power to the nation.
Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, has tweeted a photo from a meeting of the so-called Ramstein group of Ukraine allies.
Nato defence ministers are in Brussels for a two-day meeting, and although Kyiv has renewed calls for fighter jets to frustrate Russia’s invasion, Nato allies are more concerned about how to keep up a steady supply of ammunition to Ukraine without depleting their own stockpiles.
Asked what military aid his country is seeking now, Reznikov showed reporters an image of a fighter jet. Asked where he hoped they might come from, he replied:
From the sky.
#Ramstein 9 has begun.
— Oleksii Reznikov (@oleksiireznikov) February 14, 2023
It’s going to be a very productive day.
Will share the details with you after we finish. pic.twitter.com/vSZYceklBN
Hello everyone. It’s Léonie Chao-Fong here, taking over the live blog from Martin Belam. Feel free to get in touch on Twitter or via email.
Updated
Summary of the day so far …
Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday it was more important that Finland and Sweden’s applications to join the alliance were ratified quickly than together. The two countries applied to join Nato following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and their membership bids have been ratified by all allies except Hungary and Turkey. Turkey is widely seen as the main hold-up. Ankara has demanded that both countries take a tougher line against the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK), which is considered a terrorist group by Turkey and the European Union.
Ukraine has urgent requirements in terms of more military aid, said US secretary of defence Lloyd Austin on Tuesday, as he also reaffirmed that the United States and Nato allies in general were there to support Ukraine over the long haul. “That shared resolve will sustain Ukraine’s momentum in the weeks ahead,” said Austin at a Nato meeting in Brussels. “The Kremlin is still betting that it can wait us out.”
Russia has again criticised Nato over its stance towards the war in Ukraine. “Nato is an organisation which is hostile to us and which proves this hostility every day,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “It is trying its best to make its involvement in the conflict around Ukraine as clear as possible.”
Germany has signed contracts with Rheinmetall to restart the production of ammunition for the Gepard anti-aircraft guns it has delivered to Kyiv, German defence minister Boris Pistorius said on Tuesday.
Shipping and coastal communities around Ukraine’s major seaport hub of Odesa received a warning from military officials on Tuesday over the high risk of naval mines drifting along the coast and washing ashore. Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of using mines off the Ukrainian coast, which prevents safe navigation in the region. The Soviet-made mines were anchored, but in a storm some of them could come loose and be carried by the current.
Ukrainian defenders who have held out for months are braced for new ground attacks, Ukrainian military officials have said. The eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut is facing heavy artillery fire, according to local officials. “The city, the city’s suburbs, the entire perimeter, and essentially the entire Bakhmut direction and Kostyantynivka are under crazy, chaotic shelling,” said Volodymyr Nazarenko, deputy commander of Ukraine’s Svoboda battalion, on Monday. The Ukrainian military reported 16 settlements had been bombarded near Bakhmut.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy thanked Ukrainian soldiers for “preventing the occupiers from encircling Bakhmut”. The capture of Bakhmut would give Russia a new foothold in the Donetsk region and constitute a rare victory after months of setbacks.
In the last three days, Wagner Group forces have almost certainly made further small gains around the northern outskirts of Bakhmut, including into the village of Krasna Hora, the UK Ministry of Defence said Tuesday. However, organised Ukrainian defence continues in the area and the tactical Russian advance to the south of the town has likely made little progress, the latest British intelligence report adds.
Ukraine’s state broadcaster Suspilne reports that the head of the press office for the Ukrainian region of Kherson, Oleksandr Tolokonnikov, has said that the Russian army today shelled the carriageway of one of the major regional roads and also damaged a hospital facility. There were no dead or injured, he said. The claims have not been independently verified.
Updated
The Kremlin has again criticised Nato over its stance towards the war in Ukraine, saying the military alliance demonstrated its hostility towards Russia every day, and was becoming more and more involved in the conflict in Ukraine.
“Nato is an organisation which is hostile to us and which proves this hostility every day,” the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters.
“It is trying its best to make its involvement in the conflict around Ukraine as clear as possible,” Reuters reports Peskov added.
Updated
Stoltenberg: more important Sweden and Finland join Nato quickly than join at the same time
Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said on Tuesday it was more important that Finland and Sweden’s applications to join the alliance were ratified quickly rather than together.
The two countries applied to join Nato following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year and their membership bids have been ratified by all allies except Hungary and Turkey.
Turkey is widely seen as the main hold-up and the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has indicated his country could ratify Finland’s application while not going ahead with Sweden’s.
Reuters reports western officials have said they would prefer both countries to join Nato together, partly because it would be easier to integrate them at the same time into Nato’s military structures.
But Stoltenberg, speaking before a meeting of Nato defence ministers at alliance headquarters in Brussels, suggested that was a secondary consideration.
“The main question is not whether Finland and Sweden are ratified together. The main question is that they are both ratified as full members as soon as possible,” he told reporters.
“I’m confident that both will be full members and I’m working hard to get both ratified as soon as possible.”
Ankara has demanded that both countries take a tougher line against the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK), which is considered a terrorist group by Turkey and the European Union.
Updated
Ukraine has urgent requirements in terms of more military aid, said the US secretary of defence, Lloyd Austin, on Tuesday, as he also reaffirmed that the United States and Nato allies in general were there to support Ukraine over the long haul.
“That shared resolve will sustain Ukraine’s momentum in the weeks ahead,” said Austin at a Nato meeting in Brussels. “The Kremlin is still betting that it can wait us out.”
Austin is in Brussels for the meeting of Nato defence ministers.
Updated
Here is a selection of images that have been sent over the news wires showing Ukrainian service personnel in the contested city of Bakhmut.
The air alert that started earlier in Ukraine has ended. It lasted around one hour and fifty minutes. There are no reports of any strikes materialising.
My colleague Esther Addley has been speaking to some Ukrainian refugees who have come to the UK and set up businesses:
For Nataliia Horbenko, moving to north London from Kyiv last year to set up a business in Britain was her contribution to the war effort. “I am a soldier, not at the frontline of the war, but at the economic front. My aim is to increase the economy of my homeland of Ukraine, and I think I could be successful in this task.”
Back home she was a logistics manager in a transport company and she speaks passionately (“I belong to business – I like logistics”) about the opportunity she saw to do her bit.
“We [Ukrainians] needed to make a decision and be very brave, but we had no choice,” she said. “We need to keep our minds very clear, be focused and do what we are good at. I’m good at logistics. So why couldn’t I help my Ukraine and also be helpful for your country by paying taxes here? It will be mutual cooperation.”
Read more here: ‘We live in the here and now’ – Ukrainian refugees starting businesses in the UK
Germany has signed contracts with Rheinmetall to restart the production of ammunition for the Gepard anti-aircraft guns it has delivered to Kyiv, the German defence minister, Boris Pistorius, said on Tuesday.
“We will quickly start our own production of Gepard ammunition at Rheinmetall. I am very happy we have been able to guarantee the delivery of this important part of air defence,” Reuters reports Pistorius said before a meeting with Nato ministers in Brussels.
Updated
Russia’s state-owned Tass news agency is reporting claims that yesterday Russian forces destroyed a Ukrainian ammunition depot in the Kherson region. It quotes emergency services in the Russian-held portion of occupied Kherson saying:
Yesterday, artillery fire destroyed a warehouse with ammunition near the village of Antonivka. Four vehicles were destroyed, the losses of the armed forces amounted to 15 people dead and 12 wounded.
The claim has not been independently verified. Kherson is one of the four regions of Ukraine that the Russian Federation claimed to annex late last year.
Updated
With the first anniversary of Russia’s attack on Ukraine rapidly approaching, Agence France-Presse has gathered together a series of statistics about the war so far:
According to the latest estimates from Norway, the conflict has wounded or killed 180,000 Russian soldiers and 100,000 Ukrainian troops. Other western sources estimate the war has caused 150,000 casualties on each side.
In total, 30,000 to 40,000 civilians have lost their lives nationwide in the conflict, western sources say. In late January, the United Nations estimated that 18,000 civilians had been killed or wounded in the fighting, but said the real figure was likely much higher.
Ukrainian authorities say at least 400 children have been killed. Kyiv also alleges that Moscow has forcibly deported more than 16,000 children to Russia or areas controlled by Moscow-backed separatists.
More than 8 million Ukrainians have been forced to flee Ukraine since the war broke out, the UN refugee agency says, the largest refugee crisis in Europe since the second world war. Neighbouring Poland hosts the largest share of these refugees, with more than 1.5 million of them. More than 5 million people have been displaced inside the country.
Landmines are also a threat to civilians. Kyiv says 30% of Ukrainian territory has been contaminated with landmines, while Human Rights Watch accuses Ukrainian troops of having planted banned anti-personnel landmines in the eastern region of Izium. Experts warn demining could take decades.
About 65,000 suspected war crimes have been reported throughout the war, the European Union’s justice commissioner, Didier Reynders, says. UN investigators have accused Russia of committing war crimes on a “massive scale” in Ukraine including bombings, executions, torture and sexual violence.
The “active” frontline runs north to south along 1,500 km (900 miles) of territory, according to Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the commander in chief of Ukraine’s armed forces.
The World Bank in October said it expected the country’s economy to contract by 35% in 2022, while the Kyiv School of Economics in January estimated it would cost $138bn (£113bn) to replace all the infrastructure ravaged by war. The war has caused more than $34bn in economic losses in the agricultural sector, it said in November.
Updated
Ukraine’s state broadcaster Suspilne has posted its latest summary of events to Telegram, reporting:
Since midnight, Russian troops shelled the Kherson community five times, one person was injured. In the morning, the Ochakiv community in the Mykolayiv region was also shelled – no people were injured.
During the past day, two people were killed and three others were injured due to Russian shelling in the Kherson region. One person died and three were injured in Donetsk region.
Shipping and coastal communities around Ukraine’s major seaport hub of Odesa received a warning from military officials on Tuesday over the high risk of naval mines drifting along the coast and washing ashore.
Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of using mines off the Ukrainian coast, which prevents safe navigation in the region. The Soviet-made mines were anchored, but in a storm some of them could come loose and be carried by the current, Reuters reports.
“There is a high probability of naval mines breaking off their anchors and washing up on the shore, as well as drifting along the coast,” Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesperson of Odesa military administration, wrote on Telegram messaging app.
“Since March last year, Russia has continued to use anti-ship mines on anchors as an unguided weapon against Ukraine,” he said in a separate video.
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.
Moscow continues to leverage its relationship with Iran to provide military support for the war in Ukraine, according to the US thinktank the Institute for the Study of War.
The Wagner Group continues to disseminate deliberately brutal extrajudicial execution videos and generally graphic content, the group said in its latest intelligence report.
#Moscow continues to leverage its relationship with #Iran to provide military support for the war in #Ukraine. The #Wagner Group continues to disseminate deliberately brutal extrajudicial execution videos and generally graphic content.https://t.co/iaXg3j3gjo pic.twitter.com/t2ewdh17oq
— ISW (@TheStudyofWar) February 14, 2023
Russia's Wagner group makes small gains around Bakhmut: UK MoD
In the last three days, Wagner Group forces have almost certainly made further small gains around the northern outskirts of the contested Donbas town of Bakhmut, including into the village of Krasna Hora, the UK Ministry of Defence has said.
However, organised Ukrainian defence continues in the area and the tactical Russian advance to the south of the town has likely made little progress, the latest British intelligence report adds.
In the north, in Kremina-Svatove sector of Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region, Russian forces are making “continuous offensive efforts” though each local attack “remains on too small a scale to achieve a significant breakthrough”.
Overall, the current operational picture suggests that Russian forces are being given orders to advance in most sectors, but that they have not massed sufficient offensive combat power on any one axis to achieve a decisive effect.”
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 14 February 2023
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) February 14, 2023
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/twjoin3xm1
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/RgIBKAGUOO
Russia’s foreign ministry has rejected claims made on Monday by Moldova’s president that Moscow is plotting to destabilise the situation in the former Soviet republic.
“Such claims are completely unfounded and unsubstantiated,” Reuters repots Russia’s foreign ministry as saying in a statement on Tuesday.
Russia is reportedly promising its soldiers a daily cash allowance as motivation to fight, Ukraine’s military has claimed.
The general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces alleged in its morning briefing:
In order to motivate the personnel for offensives, propaganda about daily cash allowances for participation in assault operations is distributed in enemy units.
In addition, an additional payment was announced to each invader for a kilometre of advancement on Ukrainian land.”
New Russian offensive underway, Nato chief says
A major new Russian offensive has begun in Ukraine, Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, has said.
Speaking ahead of today’s meeting of Nato defence ministers in Brussels, Stoltenberg said Russia was “sending more troops, more weapons, more capabilities”.
I think the reality [is] that we’re seeing the start already, because we’re seeing what Russia is just now, what President Putin do now, is sending thousands and thousands of more troops, accepting a very high rate of casualty, taking big losses, but putting pressure on the Ukrainians. And what Russia lacks in quality, they try to compensate in quantity, meaning that the leadership, the logistics, the equipment, the training, don’t have the same level as the Ukrainian forces, but they have more forces.”
Bakhmut under heavy fire
The eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut is facing heavy artillery fire, according to local officials.
Ukrainian defenders who have held out for months are bracing for new ground attacks, Ukrainian military officials have said.
“The city, the city’s suburbs, the entire perimeter, and essentially the entire Bakhmut direction and Kostyantynivka are under crazy, chaotic shelling,” said Volodymyr Nazarenko, deputy commander of Ukraine’s Svoboda battalion.
The Ukrainian military also reported 16 settlements had been bombarded near Bakhmut.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy thanked Ukrainian soldiers for “preventing the occupiers from encircling Bakhmut”. The capture of Bakhmut would give Russia a new foothold in the Donetsk region and constitute a rare victory after months of setbacks.
Nato chief urges speed of military aid, delivery of jets 'will take time'
Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, has said he expects the issue of aircraft to be discussed during today’s meeting in Brussels, but stressed that Ukraine instead needs urgent support on the ground.
Speaking ahead of the meeting during a pre-ministerial press conference on Monday, he said support for Ukraine “has evolved as the war has evolved”.
In the early stages of the war Stoltenberg said there was enormous focus on javelins and anti-tank weapons before switching to the delivery of advanced modern artillery.
“Then air defence has been a main focus and now heavy weaponry; Strykers, Bradleys, infantry fighting vehicles, mortars from Germany, and also main battle tanks,” he said.
Referring to the contentious discussion of providing jets, he said:
And as you have seen from media, there is now a discussion going on also on the question of aircraft, and I expect that also to be addressed tomorrow at the meetings here in Brussels.
But let me add two things and that is that one is speed, urgency. Because whatever the opinion may be about aircraft, that will take time.
What is needed now is urgent support for Ukraine. So my top priority is to ensure that the pledges Allies have made for infantry fighting vehicles, for armour, for battle tanks, that are delivered as soon as possible because every day counts.”
Nato defence ministers to increase ammunition stockpile
Defence ministers from several Nato countries allied to Kyiv will meet in Brussels later today to discuss possible further military aid.
Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said Nato planned to increase its ammunition stockpile targets as Kyiv is burning through shells much faster than western countries are able to produce.
In a statement published ahead of the summit, he said:
It is clear that we are in a race of logistics.
Key capabilities like ammunition, fuel, and spare parts must reach Ukraine before Russia can seize the initiative on the battlefield.
Speed will save lives.”
Stoltenberg said Nato partners needed to ramp up production and invest in production capacity.
The war in Ukraine is consuming an enormous amount of munitions, and depleting Allied stockpiles.
The current rate of Ukraine’s ammunition expenditure is many times higher than our current rate of production. This puts our defence industries under strain.
We need to ramp up production. And invest in our production capacity.”
He also said he expected the issue of aircraft to be discussed, but stressed that Ukraine needed urgent support on the ground now.
Summary and welcome
Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine. I’m Samantha Lock and I’ll be bringing you all the latest developments as they unfold.
The eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut is facing heavy artillery fire from Russia’s forces, according to local officials. The Ukrainian military earlier reported that 16 nearby settlements had been bombarded.
A two-day meeting of Nato defence ministers is set to begin today in Brussels where leaders will discuss possible further military aid for Ukraine.
Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said he expected the issue of aircraft to be discussed, but stressed that Ukraine needed urgent support on the ground now.
He also said Nato planned to increase its ammunition stockpile targets as Kyiv is burning through shells much faster than western countries are able to produce.
It’s 7.30am in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
A major new Russian offensive has begun, Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, has said. Speaking ahead of a two-day meeting of Nato defence ministers in Brussels, Stoltenberg said Russia was “sending more troops, more weapons, more capabilities”. Nato planned to increase its ammunition stockpile targets and he expected possible supply of aircraft to Ukraine to be discussed. Stoltenberg said Ukraine’s use of ammunition was “many times higher than our current rate of production”.
Ukrainian defenders who have held out for months are braced for new ground attacks, Ukrainian military officials have said. The eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut is facing heavy artillery fire, according to local officials. “The city, the city’s suburbs, the entire perimeter, and essentially the entire Bakhmut direction and Kostyantynivka are under crazy, chaotic shelling,” said Volodymyr Nazarenko, deputy commander of Ukraine’s Svoboda battalion. The Ukrainian military reported 16 settlements had been bombarded near Bakhmut.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy thanked Ukrainian soldiers for “preventing the occupiers from encircling Bakhmut”. The capture of Bakhmut would give Russia a new foothold in the Donetsk region and constitute a rare victory after months of setbacks.
Ukraine’s top general and the top US army commander in Europe have discussed further military aid for Kyiv. Valeriy Zaluzhnyi from Ukraine talked to the commander in chief of Europe’s combined Nato forces, US General Christopher Cavoli, ahead of the Nato defence ministers’ meeting. “We discussed the issue of supplying international military aid to Ukraine and training our units on the territory of partner countries,” Ukraine’s defence ministry quoted Zaluzhnyi as saying.
Ukraine’s allies have begun training Ukrainian troops on the Leopard 2 and other modern battle tanks. Germany started training Ukrainian soldiers on the Leopards on Monday at an army base in the northern town of Munster. Ukrainian troops are also being trained by Polish, Canadian and Norwegian instructors at a military base in Swietoszow, south-west Poland.
Two Dutch F-35 fighters have intercepted a formation of three Russian military aircraft near Poland and escorted them out. The Netherlands’ defence ministry said: “The then unknown aircraft approached the Polish Nato area of responsibility from Kaliningrad,” according to a Reuters translation of the ministry’s statement. “After identification, it turned out to be three aircraft: a Russian IL-20M Coot-A that was escorted by two Su-27 Flankers. The Dutch F-35s escorted the formation from a distance and handed over the escort to Nato partners.”
Moldova’s president, Maia Sandu, has accused Russia of planning to use foreign saboteurs to overthrow her country’s government, prevent it from joining the EU and use it in the war against Ukraine. Sandu’s comments on Monday came after Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said his country had intercepted plans by Russian secret services “for the destruction of Moldova” – this was later backed up by Moldovan intelligence officials.
An unverified video is being circulated on social media that appears to show the murder with a sledgehammer of a former Russian mercenary who fled the Wagner group while fighting in Ukraine. The clip is similar to one that showed the killing of another Wagner fighter, Yevgeny Nuzhin, in November last year. Wagner’s founder declined to say whether the apparent victim had been killed or not.
The UN human rights office said it had recorded 7,199 civilian deaths and 11,756 wounded since Russia’s February invasion, mostly from shelling, missiles and airstrikes. However, it believed the actual figure was far higher.
Updated
