Ukraine updates: Zelenskyy says China’s interest in war ‘not bad’
All the updates from February 24 as they happened.
This live blog is now closed. Thank you for joining us. These were the updates on the Russia-Ukraine war on February 24:
This live blog is now closed. Thank you for joining us. These were the updates on the Russia-Ukraine war on February 24:
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says China’s proposal of a comprehensive ceasefire is a positive development.
- Poland says it has delivered four Leopard 2s to Ukraine, the first such battle tanks to be supplied by Kyiv’s Western allies.
- Germany says it will deliver a further four tanks to Ukraine, taking its overall commitment to 18, while Sweden announces plans to deliver 10 tanks from its own stocks.
- The United States announces a new $2bn package of military aid for Ukraine and a further round of sanctions on Russia.
China does not have credibility to offer ceasefire: Stoltenberg
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says Beijing does not have credibility to propose a ceasefire in Ukraine.
Indicating that China is not impartial, Stoltenberg pointed out that it had signed an agreement with Russia only days before the invasion of Ukraine a year ago.
“China doesn’t have much credibility because they have not been able to condemn the illegal invasion of Ukraine,” he said.
Canada to send more Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine: PM Trudeau
Canada is imposing new Russia-related sanctions and sending four more Leopard 2 Tanks to Ukraine, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said, marking the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The new sanctions would target 129 individuals and 63 entities including Russian deputy prime ministers and other officials, Trudeau told reporters in Toronto.
World Bank announces $2.5bn additional financing for Ukraine
The World Bank has announced an additional $2.5bn in financing for Ukraine, aimed at supporting essential services and core government functions.
The development lender has mobilised more than $20.6bn in emergency financing for Ukraine to date.
“One year into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the world continues to witness the horrific destruction inflicted on the country and its people,” said World Bank President David Malpass in a statement.
EU war anniversary sanctions against Russia stalled: diplomats
>European Union countries have been unable for a third day running to agree on new sanctions against Russia for invading Ukraine a year ago, with Poland rejecting Italy’s demand for laxer new curbs on rubber imports, according to diplomats quoted by the Reuters news agency.
Poland said the proposed restrictions on EU imports of Russia rubber included such a big quota of imports exempted and such long transition periods that they would have no effect in practice.
Other EU countries were baffled that Warsaw – a leading Russia hawk in the bloc – was risking having no new sanctions announced on the anniversary of Russia’s attack against Ukraine over just one element of a broader package.
Zelenskyy says he plans to meet China’s Xi
Zelenskyy says he plans to meet China’s president but did not say when such a meeting might take place.
“I plan to meet Xi Jinping and believe this will be beneficial for our countries and for security in the world,” he said at a news conference in Kyiv on the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Zelenskyy had earlier reiterated that he would not hold talks with Putin.
Zelenskyy urges top US general to help speed up arms supplies
Zelenskyy has urged the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, to increase the speed of weapons deliveries to Ukraine.
Ukraine’s president said at a news conference on the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion that his main tasks include calling for more arms from Kyiv’s allies, including long-range weapons, tanks and aircraft.
White House: Russia may send fighter jets to Iran
The White House believes Moscow might provide Iran with fighter jets and other military equipment in exchange for its expanded support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to White House national security spokesperson John Kirby.
Kirby told reporters the US has information that Iran shipped artillery and tank rounds to Russia in November and Russia was offering “unprecedented defence cooperation” in return, including on missiles, electronics and fighter jets.
He said Iran was also seeking to buy attack helicopters, radar systems and combat trainer aircraft.
G7 says it is taking action against countries supporting ‘Russia’s war’
The Group of Seven (G7) is taking action against third-country actors “materially supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine”, the bloc says in a statement, reaffirming its support for Ukraine.
“We call on third-countries or other international actors who seek to evade or undermine our measures to cease providing material support to Russia’s war, or face severe costs,” said the group consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, the United Kingdom and United States.
“To deter this activity around the world, we are taking actions against third-country actors materially supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine,” it said.
Zelenskyy wants Latin American, African involvement in peace plan
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he wants countries from Latin America and Africa, as well as China and India, to join a peace formula proposed by Kyiv to end the war with Russia.
At a news conference in Kyiv marking the first anniversary of Moscow’s full-scale invasion, Zelenskyy called for a summit with Latin American leaders and said Kyiv should take steps to build relations with African countries.
Chinese interest in the war ‘not bad’: Zelenskyy
Ukraine’s president has said China’s interest in the war is “not bad” after Beijing called for a comprehensive ceasefire as part of a 12-point plan for dealing with the conflict.
“China has shown its thoughts. I believe that the fact that China started talking about Ukraine is not bad,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at a news conference on the anniversary of the Russian invasion.
“But the question is what follows the words. The question is in the steps and where they will lead to.”
Zelenskyy added there were points in the Chinese proposals that he agreed with “and there are those that we don’t”.
“But it’s something,” he said.
‘If we abandon Ukraine, we abandon the UN Charter itself’: Blinken
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says many countries are supporting Ukraine despite feeling the economic “pain” of the war because to do otherwise would be to “abandon the UN Charter itself”.
He noted, for example, that Europe has taken “extraordinary steps” to end its dependence on Russian energy.
“Nations around the world continue to stand with Ukraine because we all recognise that if we abandon Ukraine, we abandon the UN Charter itself and the principles and rules that make all countries safer and more secure,” Blinken told the UN Security Council.
Dozens detained by Russian police on Ukraine war anniversary: Rights monitor
Dozens of people have been detained by police in Russia after taking action to commemorate the anniversary of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, protest monitoring group OVD-info says.
In Moscow, at least three people laying flowers on a monument to prominent Ukrainian poet Lesya Ukrainka were quickly detained by police officers, OVD-Info said.
At least 15 people were detained laying flowers at a monument to Ukrainian writer Taras Shevchenko in St Petersburg, it added.
Russians all across the country actively protested against the war in Ukraine during the first week of the invasion. Large rallies quickly fizzled after thousands were detained, but single-person protests, and detentions, have persisted throughout the year.
Blinken warns UN Security Council over calls for unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine
The UN Security Council should not be fooled by calls for a temporary or unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine and should not fall into the “false equivalency” of calling on both sides to stop fighting, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said.
Russia will use any pause in fighting to consolidate control of territory and replenish its forces, Blinken said after China called for a ceasefire as part of a position paper on the war.
“No member of this council should call for peace while supporting Russia’s war on Ukraine and on the UN Charter,” Blinken said.
Ukraine’s Kuleba says any peace proposals must align with UN demands
Ukraine’s foreign minister has told the UN Security Council that any new peace proposals for an end to the war should be aligned with the demands made in a recent UN General Assembly resolution.
“Ukraine will resist as it has done so far, and Ukraine will win. Putin is going to lose much sooner than he thinks,” Dmytro Kuleba told the 15-member Security Council.
The UN General Assembly passed a resolution late on Thursday calling for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine and a halt to fighting in the country.
Germany to send Ukraine another four tanks, bringing total to 18
Germany will supply Ukraine with another four Leopard 2A6 battle tanks, the defence ministry in Berlin says.
“Germany is thus increasing the number of tanks it is handing over from 14 to 18,” the ministry said.
Russian academic says there is strong support for Putin over offensive
Olga Krasnyak, an associate professor at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, says there is strong support among Russians for what the Kremlin calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine.
“Even some people who had certain reasons not to support this conflict, because Ukraine is our brotherly nation, [now] understand that it is neccesary,” Krasnyak told Al Jazeera from the Russian capital.
“We see that Western countries have turned their back on Russia and started to oppose Russia,” she added.
“It is like a beseiged state here in Russia, so in this situation we support the President [Vladimir Putin].
“This is not a conflict with Ukraine or Ukrainian people. It is a conflict with Western countries that is now becoming deeper and larger because it is about a new world order and a new hierarchy of countries.”
US to impose 200% tariff on aluminium from Russia: White House
The United States will impose a 200 percent tariff on aluminium and derivatives produced in Russia effective from March 10, the White House has said.
Washington will also apply a 200 percent tariff on aluminium imports with any amount of primary aluminium smelted or cast in Russia, starting on April 10, it added.
Russian aluminium is produced by Rusal, which accounts for about 6 percent of global supplies. Supplies to the US accounted for 7 percent of Rusal’s revenue in the first half of 2022.
Russian aluminium accounts for only a small portion of total US supplies.
‘I had no idea I’d never go back’: Mariupol survivors, a year on
Al Jazeera has spoken to a number of former residents of Ukraine’s southern city of Mariupol, where Russia is alleged to have carried out atrocities.
Read their stories here.
Canada announces more than $32m in support for Ukraine
Canada has said it will provide Ukraine with more than $32m in support to further strengthen its security.
The aid includes $7.5m for demining efforts and more than $12m to counter chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats, Canada’s ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement.
Russia losing fiscal stability very quickly, says economist
Russian economist Nick Korzhenevsky, from statistical service SberIndex, said Russian expenditures have “ballooned” since the start of war.
“The direct expenditure that Russia now commits to the war is around $100bn a year,” he told Al Jazeera, speaking from Warsaw. “That’s what they have to spend. And then there’s also economic losses, I would say that’s another $20-30bn a year.”
“The official expenditure forecast for this year is $400bn. The government receipts will be around $350bn. But what’s most interesting is that just before the war started the plans for expenditures for this year were officially only $300bn.”
Korzhenevsky said that the effects of sanctions on Russia will be felt in the medium and long term.
“Last year was better than many expected in a sense because the government expenditure, which is directly part of the GDP, was so high,” he said. “Oil and gas sanctions only really kicked in the fourth quarter, so for nine months out of last year the revenues were OK and the industry was doing all right.”
Ukrainians have ‘enormous faith’ in the armed forces: Ukrainian MP
Sofiya Fedyna, a member of Ukraine’s parliament and a volunteer in the country’s military, says residents in the country’s capital have “adjusted” to the war after a year of fighting.
“At the beginning, Kyiv was emptying and there was a very harsh atmosphere [in the city], we didn’t know what might happen or where the rockets might fall,” Fedyna told Al Jazeera.
“Even now, we don’t know, but Ukrainians are a bit adjusted and have enormous faith in the armed forces of Ukraine,” she added.
“We are afraid, but we understand that if we step back we will be the next ones to be killed by [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s regime.
“We are fighting for our chance to be alive, for our children and for our future … and we have to go on.”
Western leaders slam Russia on first anniversary of Ukraine war
An array of Western leaders have voiced their support of Ukraine on the anniversary of the Russian invasion, the biggest attack by one state against another in Europe since World War II.
Read more here.
China says it is willing to deepen political trust with Belarus
China’s foreign minister has told his Belarusian counterpart that Beijing is willing to work with Minsk to deepen mutual political trust between the pair, according to a Chinese foreign ministry statement.
China will continue to support Belarus’s efforts to oppose external forces interfering in its internal affairs, Qin Gang said in a phone call with Sergei Aleinik, the statement said.
A year ago, Belarus, which shares a border with Ukraine and Russia, allowed Russia to use its territory as a launchpad for its attack on Ukraine. President Alexander Lukashenko said earlier in February that Belarus was ready to do so again.
Kyiv has voiced concerns for months that Belarus could join the war on Russia’s side, a potential threat that has forced it to divert troops to defend the north of Ukraine while waging war with Russia in the east and south.
Sweden to deliver 10 Leopard tanks, anti-air systems to Ukraine
Sweden has announced that it would deliver about 10 Leopard 2 tanks and anti-air systems to Ukraine, the latest Western country to pledge heavier weapons.
Speaking at a news conference to mark the anniversary of the war in Ukraine, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and defence minister Pal Jonson said the Nordic country would send “around” 10 of Sweden’s Leopard 2A5 tanks as well as the anti-air missile systems IRIS-T and HAWK to Ukraine.
British officials mark Ukraine anniversary with minute of silence
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was joined outside his official residence by wife Akshata Murthy, Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, Vadym Prystaiko, and dozens of Ukrainian troops being trained by the UK for a minute’s silence marking the anniversary of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
In parliament, legislators held a minute of silence in the Commons chamber. Deputy Commons speaker Dame Rosie Winterton said “Slava Ukraini” – meaning “Glory to Ukraine” in the Ukrainian language – as the silence came to an end.
King Charles III also issued a message praising the “remarkable courage and resilience” of the Ukrainian people.