Russia-Ukraine updates: US announces $2.2bn arms package for Kyiv

Canada has imposed sanctions on 38 people and 16 entities that it says are “complicit in peddling Russian disinformation and propaganda”.

Those targeted include Russian state-owned media group MIA Rossiya Segodnya and singer Nikolay Victorovich Baskov, who performed in a pro-war concert in Moscow, the Canadian foreign ministry said in a statement.

Ukrainian tennis player Elina Svitolina has said the ban on Russian and Belarusian players competing at Wimbledon must continue after they were excluded from last year’s championships.

Wimbledon barred players from the two countries due to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, a decision that was swiftly condemned by the men’s and women’s tours, as well as Novak Djokovic and Martina Navratilova.

However, Svitolina, the 2019 Wimbledon semi-finalist, said nothing had changed from last year’s reason for the ban.

“I hope they will do the same thing and keep the ban in place. I don’t think it should change,” the 28-year-old Svitolina was quoted as saying by the BBC.

Turkey’s airport ground service provider Havas told Russian airliners it may stop providing services to their US-origin aircraft, in a letter dated January 31.

Havas told Russian airliners it was responding to US export controls over the Ukraine war in its letter obtained by the Reuters news agency.

Havas also advised Russian airliners to plan flights with aircrafts containing less than 25 percent US technology.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after hosting a summit with the EU in Kyiv that it was “possible” to start official accession talks this year.

“What exactly did we agree upon today?” Zelenskyy said in his traditional evening address to the nation. “There is an understanding that it is possible to start negotiations on Ukraine’s membership in the European Union this year.”

France and Italy have finalised technical talks for the joint delivery of a SAMP/T-MAMBA air defence system to Ukraine in the spring of 2023, the French defence ministry said.

“This will allow Ukraine to defend itself against Russian drones, missiles and plane attacks, through the coverage of a significant part of the Ukrainian territory,” a ministry statement said.

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EU countries have agreed on a European Commission proposal to set price caps on Russian oil products, the Swedish presidency of the EU has said.

EU diplomats said the price caps agreed by ambassadors for the 27 EU countries are $100 per barrel on premium oil products such as diesel and a $45 cap per barrel on discounted products such as fuel oil. The proposal is that they apply from February 5.

Ukraine has said it had started replacing millions of regular light bulbs with energy-saving LED lamps as part of an EU-funded project to help with energy shortages caused by Russian attacks.

For months, Moscow has systematically attacked Ukraine’s energy grid, leaving millions in the dark and cold in the middle of winter.

The EU said in December it would fund the purchase of 30 million LED light bulbs for Ukraine worth 30 million euros to help deal with the large-scale blackouts.

“The programme to replace old light bulbs with energy-saving LED bulbs started this week,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Twitter.

Thanks to 🇪🇺, the programme to replace old light bulbs with energy-saving LED bulbs started this week. In the first 3 days, @ukrposhta has already replaced more than 750K bulbs. Next week, another 6M will be distributed in 🇺🇦 regions. Grateful to @vonderleyen for the initiative. pic.twitter.com/ZqvY7bFE0z

— Denys Shmyhal (@Denys_Shmyhal) February 3, 2023

The US has announced a new package of arms and munitions for Ukraine worth $2.2bn.

The list included more ammunition for the HIMARS rocket systems that have allowed Ukraine forces to hit behind Russian lines, more air defence units and armoured vehicles, the Pentagon said.

Ukraine’s defence minister said new tanks supplied by NATO countries would serve as an “iron fist” in Kyiv’s counteroffensive.

Oleksii Reznikov told a news briefing with his Polish counterpart that Western supplies of 155mm artillery were vital for Ukraine to fend off Russian forces.

“The new tank coalition with the main tanks of NATO countries – we need this for the counteroffensive, we will use it like an iron fist to break through their defensive lines,” he said.

After multiple pleas from Ukraine, several Western countries are expected to send crucial artillery stocks and tanks to help Kyiv fight Russian forces.

But Russia has warned that adding Western weapons on the battlefield will not change much but will escalate the conflict.

Al Jazeera’s Inside Story looks into whether the increase in arms deliveries will result in the war becoming a European conflict.

The head of the European Commission has announced the EU is working on a 10th sanctions package against Russia.

“The 10th package is on its way,” Ursula von der Leyen said in a recorded joint press conference with Zelenskyy and European Council President Charles Michel. “We have the aim to have it in place by the 24th of February.”

Von der Leyen said the new package was worth about 10 billion euros.

“The plan is to focus once more on technology that can and should not be used by Russia’s war machine,” she said. “In other words, we look deeper into components that were found, for example, in drones to make sure that there’s zero availability for Russia of these technologies or the drones’ production, for example, in Iran.”

Denmark opposes Russian athletes participating in the Paris Olympics next year, even under a neutral flag, its culture minister has said, according to the local news agency Ritzau.

“It is Denmark’s official position that we must not waver in relation to Russia,” Jakob Engel-Schmidt said.

“The government’s line is clear. Russia must be banned from all international sports as long as their attacks on Ukraine continue.”

The International Olympic Committee announced last week that athletes from Russia might be allowed to qualify for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.

Zelenskyy says Ukraine will fight to hold on to the “fortress” city of Bakhmut for as long as possible, urging allies to supply long-range weapons to help push back Russian forces.

“Nobody will give away Bakhmut. We will fight for as long as we can. We consider Bakhmut our fortress,” Zelenskyy told a news conference in Kyiv with top EU officials following a summit.

“Ukraine would be able to hold Bakhmut and liberate occupied Donbas if it received long-range weapons,” he added.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said there are no rigid timelines for Ukraine to join the EU.

“There are no rigid timelines but there are goals that you [Ukraine] have to reach,” Von der Leyen told a news conference following a summit in Kyiv with Zelenskyy.

Von der Leyen also said the EU’s next sanctions package against Russia would target components in Russian drones used in Ukraine.

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

Poland believes it could be possible to build a coalition of some 40 countries to support a call to block Russian and Belarusian athletes from the 2024 Olympics.

The Baltic nations and Poland, which are strong supporters of Ukraine, have already urged international sport bodies to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing in the Paris Games and other events while the war continues.

Read more here.

Ursula von der Leyen has announced a new scheme to provide Ukraine with 35 million energy-efficient LED lightbulbs.

“Together, we are bringing light to Ukraine,” von der Leyen said in a Twitter post.

“Every kW [kilowatt] of energy saved is precious to counter Russia’s energy war,” she said.

Von der Leyen is part of a contingent of high-ranking EU officials in Kyiv for talks with Ukraine’s government over its push to join the bloc and the support it is requesting to face down Russia’s offensive.

Together, we are bringing light to Ukraine!⁰
Ukrainians can exchange their old bulbs at the post office for energy-efficient LED bulbs.
 
The EU is gladly providing 35 million of them.
 
Every kW of energy saved is precious to counter Russia's energy war. pic.twitter.com/dkKpSRH6yv

— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) February 3, 2023

Russia’s state-owned Promsvyazbank says it has bought two credit institutions in eastern Ukraine’s partly occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Promsvyazbank has focused its business on serving state employees and the defence sector since it was bailed out by the central bank in 2017.

It has been targeted with Western sanctions over Russia’s offensive in Ukraine.

Russia’s monthly budget revenues from oil and gas fell in January under the impact of Western sanctions on Russian exports, reaching their lowest levels since August 2020 , finance ministry data shows.

Monthly tax and customs revenue from energy sales was down 46 percent in the space of a year, according to the ministry.

Moscow relies on its multibillion-dollar earnings from oil and gas sales to fund its budget spending, and has been forced to start selling down some international reserves to cover the shortfall.

Germany has approved the export of Leopard 1 battle tanks to Ukraine from industry stocks, a spokesman for the country’s government says.

“I can confirm that an export permit has been issued,” the spokesman said at a regular news conference in Berlin. He declined to comment on the number of tanks that would be exported.

Amid mounting international pressure last month, the German government announced the planned delivery of the more modern Leopard 2 tanks from army stocks.

Germany aims to provide 14 Leopard 2 tanks from its own inventory.