Ukraine updates: Kyiv says European allies ready to send aircraft
All the updates as they happened on February 9.
This live blog is closed, thank you for joining us. These were the updates on the Russia-Ukraine war on Thursday, February 9.
This live blog is closed, thank you for joining us. These were the updates on the Russia-Ukraine war on Thursday, February 9.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on a tour of European capitals, tells leaders at a summit in Brussels that Europe’s freedom depends on that of Ukraine.
- Zelenskyy says Kyiv’s European allies have expressed “readiness” to send aircraft.
- Russian forces have significantly stepped up attacks in eastern Ukraine and are trying to break through defences near Kreminna, says the Ukrainian governor of Luhansk.
- The Russian embassy in London warns of “military and political consequences” after UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said “nothing is off the table”, including combat aircraft for Ukraine.
- Russia’s mercenary Wanger Group says it has stopped recruiting prisoners to fight in Ukraine.
Adviser says quarter of Ukrainians at risk of ‘severe mental health conditions’
A senior health official says about one in four Ukrainians are at risk of developing acute mental health issues as Russia’s war strains the nation’s population.
Michel Kazatchkine, a special adviser to the World Health Organization’s Regional Office for Europe, said the war could also put pressure on the health systems of the surrounding region as the economic fallout of the conflict stretches “constrained” budgets.
Kazatchkine noted that during a recent trip to the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, he witnessed scores of military members suffering from depression and anxiety.
“Mental health is becoming a predominant public health issue in Ukraine,” he told reporters in Geneva. “The war and its consequences have led to an increased use of licit and illicit psychoactive substances.”
Meloni irked by exclusion from France-Germany meeting with Zelenskyy
Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni says her exclusion from a dinner between the French and German leaders and Zelenskyy was “inappropriate”.
Macron and Scholz met with Zelenskyy in Paris on Wednesday night ahead of an EU summit on Thursday. In prior years, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi had worked closely with Macron and Scholz, but his successor, Meloni, was not invited to the meeting.
Meloni told reporters on Thursday that “our strength in this fight is unity” and reportedly met with Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the EU summit.
Some members of Meloni’s far-right coalition have been criticised as sympathetic to Russia, but Meloni has pledged continued support for Ukraine.
Macron said Wednesday’s dinner was appropriate because “Germany and France have had a special role on the Ukraine question for eight years”.
Russia ‘ready’ to work on Zaporizhzhia nuclear safety zone
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began nearly one year ago, the safety of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant has been a persistent concern.
The plant was occupied by Russia soon after it launched the invasion, and Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of risking a dangerous nuclear accident as the plant has come under fire on several occasions.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has called for the implementation of a safe zone around the plant to keep it from being shelled.
On Thursday, Russia indicated that it was prepared to move forward with efforts to create a zone around the plant after a meeting between the heads of the UN nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, and Russia’s state nuclear firm Rosatom.
The plant produced about 20 percent of Ukraine’s power before Russia’s invasion but has not produced any electricity since September.
Have Franco-American relations changed during the war?
As the war in Ukraine continues, France and the United States have become more aligned.
With France becoming one of Ukraine’s biggest backers alongside the US, the two countries are focused on “changing the course” of the war.
But at the beginning, France argued that it needed to differentiate itself from the rest of the West in case it was needed as a mediator.
Al Jazeera’s The Bottom Line looks into whether Franco-American relations have changed as the conflict nears its first anniversary.
Czech Republic to repair damaged Ukrainian armoured vehicles
The Ukrainian army’s armoured vehicles will be repaired in the Czech Republic, the Czech defence ministry said.
The ministry said that state-owned company VOP CZ signed a memorandum of understanding with Ukraine’s government arms manufacturer Ukroboronprom on the repairs on Monday.
“The memorandum … contains a specific plan and timetable for the repairs or securing of spare parts,” said Ales Vytecka, director of the Czech government’s AMOS agency for military cooperation, who co-signed the memorandum.
The Czech Republic has been one of the top weapons providers to Kyiv among NATO allies, supplying Ukraine with armoured personnel carriers, tanks or howitzers.
Russia may take legal action over Nord Stream investigation
Russia might take political or legal action in response to a report alleging that the US was involved in the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines last year, the TASS news agency reported, citing a foreign ministry official.
In a blog post, Pulitzer Prize-winning American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh cited an unidentified source as saying US navy divers had planted explosives on the pipelines in the Baltic Sea on the orders of President Joe Biden.
The White House dismissed the report as “utterly false and complete fiction”, and Norway, which is investigating the explosions, said the allegations were “nonsense”.
Al Jazeera was unable to verify Hersh’s report independently.
Zelenskyy says he discussed Ukraine’s military capabilities with France, Germany
Zelenskyy tells reporters that he has discussed enhancing Ukraine’s military capabilities during a meeting in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz but he could not release details.
“There are certain agreements which are not public but which are positive. I don’t want to prepare the Russian Federation, which is constantly threatening us with new aggressions,” Zelenskyy said during a joint press conference in Brussels with European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Italy: Russia’s offensive is about to ‘intensify today’
Russia is looking to step up its offensive against Ukraine as the first anniversary of its invasion on February 24 approaches, Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto says.
“We are working with Ukraine to help it to defend itself from this attack, which it seems is about to intensify today and in the coming days,” Crosetto said at a news conference in Rome.
Russia accuses Nord Stream investigators of covering up findings
Russia’s foreign ministry says investigations into last September’s explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines have been conducted so that their findings would remain hidden, the state-run TASS news agency reported.
Swedish and Danish authorities are investigating four holes in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, which link Russia and Germany via the Baltic Sea and have become a flashpoint in the Ukraine crisis.
IAEA chief, Rosatom CEO begin talks in Moscow
Talks between the CEO of Russian state nuclear energy company Rosatom and the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, have begun in Moscow, Russian nuclear industry newspaper Strana Rosatom reported.
It said that the talks would focus on creating a safe zone around the Zaporizhzia nuclear plant in Ukraine.
Russian forces have controlled the plant since March 2022.
Russia must increase tank production in response to West: Former PM
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said during a visit to a tank factory in the Siberian city of Omsk that Moscow would increase production of tanks in response to Western arms supplies to Ukraine.
“As we know, our adversary [Ukraine] has been begging abroad for planes, missiles, tanks. How should we respond? It is clear that in this case, it is natural for us to increase production of various armaments, including modern tanks,” Medvedev said in video footage of his visit on Telegram.
Zelenskyy has been visiting various European countries this week to secure fighter jets, and he says long-range weapons are needed to defend his country.
Who controls what?
Here are four maps we update daily, charting the latest developments in the conflict.
New European sanctions will target Russian ‘propagandists’: EU
New European sanctions against Russia will include new export bans worth more than 10 billion euros ($10.7bn) and will take on Putin’s propagandists, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters.
“We will target Putin’s propagandists because their lies are poisoning the public space in Russia and abroad”, von der Leyen said during a joint news conference with Zelenskyy.
The new sanctions “will further starve Russia’s military machine and shake the foundations of its economy”, she added.
Ukraine ‘will’ become an EU member, says Zelenskyy
Ukraine will win the war against Russia and become an EU member, Zelenskyy said in his first in-person speech at the European Parliament.
He said Ukraine is fighting the nearly year-old war to “defend the European way of life,” based on the rule of law, open societies, and the inviolability of borders.
Zelenskyy stressed that, while Ukraine is “fighting, defending itself, it is also modernising and reforming its institutions” so that it could become an EU member.
“Ukraine is going to be a member of the European Union. Ukraine, that is winning, is going to be a member of the European Union,” he said.
Elon Musk must choose between Ukraine and Russia, says official
Elon Musk’s SpaceX should choose between Ukraine and Russia, a senior Ukrainian official said after the company said it was curbing Kyiv’s use of Starlink internet devices for controlling drones.
Gwynne Shotwell, president and chief operating officer of SpaceX, said on Wednesday that the Starlink service, which has provided Ukraine with the internet, was “never meant to be weaponised”.
Mykhailo Podolyak, a political adviser to Zelenskyy, criticised the decision on Twitter and said, “A year of Ukrainian resistance & companies have to decide: Either they are on the side of Ukraine & the right to freedom, and don’t seek ways to do harm. Or they are on Russia’s side & its ‘right’ to kill & seize territories.”
“SpaceX (Starlink) & Mrs. Shotwell should choose a specific option,” he said.
A year of 🇺🇦 resistance & companies have to decide:
-Either they are on the side of 🇺🇦 & the right to freedom, and don’t seek ways to do harm.
-Or they are on RF’s side & its "right" to kill & seize territories.#SpaceX (Starlink) & Mrs. #Shotwell should choose a specific option— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) February 9, 2023
Putin: Russia should become drone centre, bid farewell to foreign companies
Russian President Vladimir Putin says Russia should build a system for developing drones and that the country should be a “source of technology and competence”.
Russian forces have extensively used drones in Ukraine, including those bought from Iran.
Speaking at a meeting with senior officials broadcast on state television, Putin added foreign companies were losing out due to leaving the Russian market amid Western sanctions.
The potential, he said, for domestic business expansion was “colossal”, and Russia had not lost out from the departure of the foreign businesses.
UK will not send fighter jets if it puts British safety ‘at risk’
The British government is wary of sending fighter jets to Ukraine if it can potentially place the UK’s safety at risk, Number 10 has said.
A spokesperson for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declined to comment on “speculation about the provision of jets” before a decision on sending any has been taken when asked whether the UK has spares to give away.
“The UK has significant numbers of Typhoons and F-35s,” the official said.
“Of course, we would never do anything that would put UK safety at risk.”
The spokesperson added that the UK would work with international partners to “work out how we could supply [Ukraine] with NATO-standard capabilities”.
No ‘free Europe’ without a ‘free Ukraine’, says Zelenskyy
Zelenskyy tells European Union leaders in Brussels there is no free Europe without a free Ukraine.
“Europe should not have grey zones; our whole continent should be open to European destiny,” Zelenskyy told the 27 national EU leaders gathered for a summit in Brussels weeks before the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Unity of Europe is fundamental to security,” he said, adding a “free Europe cannot be imagined without free Ukraine”.
“Europe is free, Europe will be free and Europe is united,” he said.
Russian attacks intensify as anniversary nears
As the anniversary of the war approaches, Ukrainian officials report that Russian aggression is intensifying in the east of the country.
Ukrainian presidential office adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said there are about 100 clashes daily along the front line.
Meanwhile, Western allies have sped up weapons deliveries to Ukraine after signing off on crucial tanks that Kyiv’s forces desperately need.
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Russian exports in line with domestic laws, says China
When asked if China had exported navigation equipment and fighter jet parts to Russia, a commerce ministry spokesperson said China has always required its firms to abide by domestic laws.
On Saturday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Chinese state-owned defence companies had provided technology that Russia’s military needs, citing Russian customs records.
“The Chinese government has always required enterprises to strictly comply with national export control and other laws and regulations … and ensure that relevant exports are in line with China’s national security interests and international interests,” a commerce spokesperson Shu Jueting told a regular briefing.
China’s Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law, which came into force in June 2021, grants Chinese companies a legal basis for side-stepping international sanctions that harm Chinese entities and result in them only having to comply with domestic laws and regulations.
NATO as a whole must decide on fighter jets: Poland
The Polish prime minister says NATO must take any decision on supplying fighter jets to Ukraine as a whole, and Poland will not be the first to provide such aircraft.
Zelenskyy has urged allies to supply combat aircraft to help Ukraine fight back against Russian forces.
“Our position is clear, we can only act within the entire formation of NATO,” Mateusz Morawiecki told reporters.
“We will not be the first ones to hand over the fighter jets, but we will respond positively, provided that those who have the most of these jets will be able to give them to Ukraine.”
Morawiecki said Poland did not have enough fighter jets to be the first to supply them to Ukraine and that it could not take steps that would weaken its security.
Zelenskyy thanks EU leaders for supporting Ukraine
Zelenskyy has thanked the European Parliament for helping Ukraine defend itself against the Russian invasion before joining a summit of EU leaders to ask for more weapons.
“Thank you,” Zelenskyy told EU politicians, who gave him a long standing ovation, some of them wearing the blue and yellow colours of the Ukrainian flag.
“We are defending ourselves in the battlefield, we Ukrainians, together with you,” he said, adding that his country, together with Europe, was “defending ourselves against (the) biggest anti-European force of the modern world.”
While Zelenskyy is unlikely to leave with immediate pledges to satisfy his requests for fighter jets, the visit gives him a chance to argue his case in person with all of the EU’s 27 national leaders for the first time since Russia invaded last year.
Inviting Zelenskyy to Paris was ‘inappropriate’, says Italian PM
Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the invitation of Zelenskyy to Paris, where he met his French counterpart and the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, was “inappropriate”.
“I believe our strength is community and unity … but there are times when favouring internal public opinion risks being to the detriment of the cause, and this seems to me to be one of those cases,” she said in Brussels.
Following his visit to London and Paris, Zelenskyy arrived in Brussels on Thursday to push EU leaders for more weapons in the fight against Russia’s invasion and for a quick start to EU membership talks.
Italy’s foreign minister said Meloni would meet Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the EU leader’s meeting, which will end on Friday.
Olympics president calls on Ukraine to drop boycott threats
International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach has called on Ukraine to drop threats to boycott the 2024 Olympics over the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes.
In a letter to Ukraine’s National Olympic Committee (NOC) president Vadym Gutzeit, seen by the Reuters news agency, Bach said claims that allowing Russian and Belarusian athletes back into the Games would promote the invasion were “defamatory”.
The IOC has said a boycott would violate the Olympic Charter and that its inclusion of Russian and Belarusians is based on a UN resolution against discrimination within the Olympic movement.
“The participation of neutral athletes with a Russian or Belarusian passport at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 has not even been discussed in concrete terms yet,” Bach said.