Russia-Ukraine updates: Zelenskyy seeks faster weapons deliveries

The International Monetary Fund has said it reached a staff-level agreement with Ukraine, paving the way for discussions on a full-fledged lending program that would support Kyiv’s bid to join the European Union.

The IMF, in a statement, said inflation in Ukraine has begun to decelerate while gradual economic recovery is expected this year.

Ex-Soviet Belarus has said it was limiting access for Polish trucks on its territory and announced the expulsion of a liaison officer following Warsaw’s decision to close a border crossing.

The foreign ministry in Minsk summoned Poland’s charge d’affaires to condemn Warsaw’s decision to close one of its three existing border crossings with Belarus as “unilateral” and “inhumane”.

In response, Polish goods trucks will now only be able to enter and leave Belarus through crossings on their common border, and no longer via third countries Lithuania and Latvia.

“All responsibility for the deterioration of the conditions for the operations of their carriers lies with the initiator of the restrictive measures, that is the current government of Poland,” said a ministry statement.

French supermarket chain Auchan was accused of being a “weapon of Russian aggression” by Ukraine after media reports that its shops had been used to supply goods to the Russian army.

The revelations in Le Monde newspaper in France and investigative websites Bellingcat and The Insider cast a new spotlight on the Mulliez family which owns Auchan as well as DIY chain Leroy Merlin and sports retailer Decathlon.

Estimated to be France’s eighth wealthiest, the family has resisted public pressure to stop trading in Russia despite the risks of being linked to the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.

The reports said employees at Auchan in Russia had collected store goods worth two million rubles ($27,000), including woollen socks and gas bottles, which were sent to soldiers marked as humanitarian aid.

“Last year, I urged the world to boycott Auchan for failing to withdraw from Russia and stop funding war crimes,” Ukrainian minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter in reaction.

The head of Russia’s mercenary group Wagner has claimed the capture of the village of Paraskoviivka just north of Bakhmut, an eastern Ukraine city that’s the scene of the longest-running battle of Moscow’s offensive.

“The settlement of Paraskoviivka is completely under the control of Wagner PMC units. Despite the blockade of ammunition, despite heavy losses and bloody battles, the guys completely occupied the entire territory of Paraskoviivka,” Yevgeny Prigozhin said as quoted by his news service.

Ukraine was weathering a wave of Russian attacks on its power grid and seeing recovering supplies despite Russia’s campaign against key infrastructure, energy operator Ukrenergo has said.

After humiliating defeats on the ground, Russia has pummelled Ukraine’s energy facilities since October, leading to power shortages that have left millions in the cold and dark during winter.

“There has been no shortage of electricity in the energy system during the entire working week, and none is expected so far,” Ukrenergo said on the Telegram messenger.

Russia has summoned Italy’s ambassador to the country after Moscow said a number of performances by Russian artists in Italy had been cancelled.

In a statement, Russia’s foreign ministry accused Italian authorities of discriminating against Russian artists, without providing further detail.

“Decisions by the Italian authorities unfortunately indicate a tendency to discriminate against Russian artists and restrict cultural and humanitarian exchanges,” it said.

In December, an Italian theatre called off a performance by prominent Russian dancer Sergei Polunin amid an online backlash over his tattoos of President Vladimir Putin.

Central Asian states keep close ties with Moscow, but younger citizens in some of the region’s former Soviet nations are questioning traditional alliances as the war in Ukraine rages.

Read more here.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is hosting his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko for talks in Moscow today while Western leaders congregate at the Munich Security Conference.

Russia’s state-owned TASS news agency reported that the pair would discuss military cooperation and security issues during their meeting.

Russia and Belarus are close allies and Moscow used Belarusian territory as a launchpad for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last February.

Russia’s foreign ministry has warned Western journalists that if they behave unprofessionally and treat Russia or its people in a rude way, they will not be tolerated.

Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that when senior Western correspondents met Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow this week, some complained about their working conditions, including the issuance of visas and accreditation.

“How many years were they provided with conditions that were absolutely favourable?” Zakharova asked reporters.

“That is all over now. Now they will live in a new way,” Zakharova said.

“If they do their job professionally, they will work; if not, then foreign journalists will not work. If they treat us, our country and our people rudely, then they are simply not welcome here.”

French President Emmanuel Macron has urged Ukraine’s allies to intensify their military support for Kyiv.

“We absolutely need to intensify our support and our effort to the resistance of the Ukrainian people and its army and help them to launch a counter-offensive,” Macron told the Munich Security Conference.

He added such a counter-offensive would allow for “credible negotiations, determined by Ukraine, its authorities and its people” to take place on ending the war.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says allies of Ukraine who can supply Kyiv with battle tanks “should really do so now”.

Addressing the Munich Security Conference, Scholz said he would be “intensively campaigning” for movement on the issue.

Scholz’s call marked a dramatic reversal of roles as he had for months been under pressure from allies to approve the delivery of German-made Leopard tanks to Ukraine.

Germany finally relented in January, saying it would itself send a company of 14 Leopard 2 A6 tanks, with the aim of assembling, along with allies, two tank battalions for Ukraine.

It is still waiting on some European partners to follow up with their own pledges.

It is “obvious” Ukraine will not be the last stop in Putin’s invasion, Zelenskyy says.

“He’s going to continue his movement all the way, … including all the other states that at some point in time were part of the Soviet bloc,” Ukraine’s president told the Munich Security Conference via video link.

Zelenskyy also said he did not think Russia could win the war.

He likened Ukraine to David and Russia to Goliath in the biblical tale in which the underdog David, armed only with a sling, defeats a giant in combat. Zelenskyy said David won against Goliath by action rather than conversation and Goliath “has no chances”.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said there was “no alternative” to victory, as Kyiv presses its fightback against Russia’s forces.

“There is no alternative to Ukrainian victory … No alternative to Ukraine in the EU. No alternative to Ukraine in NATO,” he told the Munich Security Conference, via video link.

He also called for Ukraine’s Western allies to “hurry” and speed up their deliveries of weapons amid fears a new Russian offensive is getting under way.

“We need to hurry up. We need speed – speed of our agreements, speed of our delivery … speed of decisions to limit Russian potential. There is no alternative to speed because it is the speed that the life depends on.”

Russia says it has summoned the Dutch ambassador over what it called “obsessive attempts” by the Netherlands to hold it responsible for the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 in Ukraine in 2014.

In a statement, the Russian foreign ministry accused the joint investigation team set up to establish who was responsible of being “politicised”.

Prosecutors said last week at The Hague they had found “strong indications” that Russian President Vladimir Putin had approved for use in Ukraine the Russian BUK missile system used to shoot down the plane over eastern Ukraine in 2014, killing all 298 people onboard.

At the time, Russian-backed separatists were fighting Ukrainian forces for control of the eastern Donbas region.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says there should be no “taboo” on the supply of military aid to Ukraine.

Speaking at a joint news conference with visiting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Zelenskyy said Kyiv had a “common understanding” with the Netherlands on the issue.

“There should not be any taboo on the supply and support of weapons to our army, to our Ukraine, because it supports and protects our sovereignty,” he said.

Ukraine has repeatedly appealed to its allies in the West for fighter jets in recent weeks, but no country has yet publicly committed to providing them.

Finland’s president has said the fate of his country’s bid to join NATO is now in “Turkey’s hands”.

Sauli Niinisto’s remarks came after the Finnish parliament agreed to vote later this month to approve legislation paving the way for it to join NATO.

“It is an expression of our will. Turkey’s stance towards our will is exclusively and only in Turkey’s hands,” Niinisto told reporters on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

Finland applied to join the transatlantic military alliance last year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, alongside Sweden, but its ascension has been held up by Hungary and Turkey, which are yet to ratify its membership bid.

Russia has appointed new commanders for three of the country’s military districts, the state-owned RIA Novosti news outlet has reported.

Lieutenant-General Andrey Mordvichev was chosen as the new commander of the country’s Central Military District, replacing promoted Colonel-General Aleksandr Lapin, RIA reported.

Lapin was appointed chief of staff of the country’s ground forces last month.

RIA also reported that Yevgeny Nikiforov had become chief of the Western Military District and Sergey Kuzovlev was appointed as commander of the Southern Military District.

Here are three maps that we update daily to chart the latest war developments:

President Vladimir Putin has lauded Russia’s state-owned gas giant Gazprom, saying the company will thrive despite attempts by the West to cut its clout.

“Despite unfair – to put it bluntly – competition, direct attempts from the outside to hinder and restrain its development, Gazprom is moving forward, launching new projects,” Putin told CEO Alexei Miller.

“Over the previous 30 years, global gas consumption has almost doubled, and in the next 20 years, according to expert estimates, it will add at least another 20 percent, and maybe more,” he added.

“In the so-called transition period, the demand will be enormous. Moreover, more than half of this increase will fall on the countries of the Asia-Pacific region, first of all, of course, on the People’s Republic of China, bearing in mind the growth rates of its economy.”

The World Health Organization has appealed for more funds to support Ukraine’s health sector, which has been hard-hit by Russia’s invasion.

Hans Kluge, the UN health agency’s regional director for Europe, said additional support was needed to ensure that mental health and rehabilitation services could be provided.

“We aim to reach 13.6 million people with this support this year,” Kluge told an online briefing from the Ukrainian city of Zhytomyr.

“That’s why we have increased our appeal for 2023 to $240m – $160m for Ukraine and $80m for refugee-receiving countries.”