03/02/2023
Ukraine war in the live ticker
+++ 05:39 Slovakia is considering delivery of MiG-29 fighter jets +++
According to Slovakia, it is considering handing over ten of its eleven MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine. That’s what Slovak Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad says in one go interview with the AP news agency. On February 11th reported Slovak newspaper SME reports that Ukrainian President Zelenskyy asked Slovakia for MiG-29 fighter jets. According to reports, Slovakia has already phased out the jets.
+++ 05:10 Baerbock meets Chinese Foreign Minister +++
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock met her new Chinese colleague Qin Gang before the start of the working sessions at the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting of the leading economic powers in India. Details about the content and results of the talks in the capital, New Delhi, are not yet known. However, Green Party politician Qin was expected to respond to the position paper published by China on the anniversary of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine.
+++ 22:24 China and Belarus call for a peace agreement +++
China and Belarus are calling for a peace agreement in Ukraine as soon as possible. China’s President Xi Jinping and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko also expressed their deep concerns about the development of the armed conflict at a meeting in Beijing, reports the Belarusian state agency Belta. Belarus and China are interested in preventing the crisis from escalating, they say. They are also prepared to work to restore peace and order in the region. Xi said in a televised statement that China is keen to strengthen trust and cooperation with Belarus amid the unstable international situation.
+++ 22:07 Zelenskyj: Troops have the situation on the fronts under control +++
According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian armed forces have the situation on the country’s fronts under control. “We have every area at the front under control,” said Zelenskyj in his video speech every evening. However, the people behind the fronts would continue to suffer from the Russian attacks. “Deliberate terror,” Zelenskyy said of the Russian artillery attacks on towns and villages behind the fronts in southern and eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian armed forces are doing their best to restore security to those who have to endure these constant Russian attacks. “Every movement of our flag forward will increase the security of our people.”
+++ 21:42 Lavrov meets several counterparts before the G20 +++
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov speaks with several of his counterparts ahead of the G20 meeting in India. According to information from Indian diplomatic circles, Lavrov met the Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and the heads of departments of South Africa and Brazil. A meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang is also planned. According to the diplomats, in addition to the meetings with counterparts from the so-called Brics countries, Lavrov also spoke with the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavuşoğlu.
+++ 21:10 Ukrainian armed forces to Bakhmut: “The enemy is advancing” +++
Russian troops are advancing in the Bakhmut region. “The enemy is advancing. The attack on the city of Bakhmut continues,” the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces posted on Facebook. Russian units are already pressuring the city from three sides. “Ukrainian volunteers conducting evacuations in Donbass no longer go to Bakhmut, US correspondent Neil Hauer wrote on Twitter. Now there is a direct threat from Russian anti-tank missiles (ATGM) on the remaining road into the city.
+++ 20:50 US Attorney General calls Prigozhin a “war criminal” +++
US Attorney General Merrick Garland has described the head of the Russian Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, as a “war criminal”. The US Department of Justice is helping Kiev investigate alleged war crimes since Russia invaded Ukraine, Garland told a US Senate hearing, including crimes attributed to the Wagner group. “Mr. Prigozhin, who is in charge of this matter, is in my view a war criminal,” the justice minister said. Perhaps it is inappropriate to say this before all the evidence is in place. “But I think we have more than enough evidence at this point to justify my sentiment,” Garland continued. What the Wagner group is doing in Ukraine is “incomprehensible”.
You can read earlier developments in the Ukraine war here.