Past 24 hours in the war zone
- Joint Forces Headquarters report 2 attacks by Russian occupiers, namely near Svitlodarsk & Pisky. 1 civilian wounded.
- Between evenings of January 28-30, OSCE SMM recorded 213 violations, including 46 explosions in Donetsk Oblast, 143 violations, including 67 explosions in Luhansk Oblast
- Russia rotates it’s occupation forces in Donbas and reinforces them with anti-tank weapons and snipers, Ukraine’s intelligence reports
Quick Ukraine news
- The European Commission has tabled a proposal for a new emergency macro-financial assistance program for Ukraine of up to EUR 1.2 billion. The macro-financial assistance funds will be made available to Ukraine in the form of long-term loans on highly favorable terms.
- The foreign ministers of Germany, France, Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia will visit Ukraine next week, Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports.
- The Lithuanian government has set up a special mission that will assess Ukraine’s needs for additional assistance from Lithuania and will coordinate the provision of assistance amid Russian aggression.
UK & Poland’s prime ministers visit Ukraine, hold talks with Zelenskyy, provide additional military support
The United Kingdom and Poland will provide more aid to Ukraine. Statements come ahead of the visits of the U.K. and Poland prime ministers to Ukraine today on 1 February 2022 to discuss the new trilateral cooperation that is about to be officially announced. Both prime ministers have already arrived in Kyiv.
The UK will provide Ukraine with £88 million ($119 million) in financial aid to support stable governance in the country and “reduce Ukraine’s reliance on Russian energy supplies. Poland is ready to hand over military aid to Ukraine. In particular, ammunition, Hrim (Thunder) MANPADS, and various types of drones.
UK promises sanctions “the minute Russia further invades Ukraine”
In addition to the $119 million worth of assistance, speaking at a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, Boris Johnson warned Russia against a further invasion of Ukraine, Ukrinform reported.
“A further Russian invasion of Ukraine would be a political disaster, a humanitarian disaster. It might even also be for Russia, for the world a military disaster as well. And the potential invasion completely flies in the face of President Putin’s claims to be acting in the interest of the Ukrainian people,” he said.
The British Prime Minister also spoke of the drafting of sanctions in response to the possible Russian invasion which will specifically target Russian economic interests. He noted that this package of sanctions will enable London to pinpoint Russia’s strategic commercial interests, as well as those of Russian individuals and that this approach had been agreed with the US.
US Secretary of State spoke with Russian Foreign Minister
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke on February 1 with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. Blinken further reiterated Washington’s commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the right of all countries to determine their own foreign policy and alliances. “The Secretary urged immediate Russian de-escalation and the withdrawal of troops and equipment from Ukraine’s borders… He emphasized that further invasion of Ukraine would be met with swift and severe consequences and urged Russia to pursue a diplomatic path,” the statement said.
Putin holds talks with Hungarian Prime Minister Orban, says Ukraine’s NATO membership may cause NATO-Russia war
Putin has again claimed that Russia’s security concerns had been ignored by the United States and NATO amid intense diplomatic efforts to ease tensions over Ukraine. “Already clear that fundamental Russian concerns ended up being ignored,” he said following the meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, when they discussed additional gas supplies from Russia to Hungary and security issues.
Putin also worries that in case Ukraine becomes a NATO member the possible scenario is that Russia will be forced to fight with NATO for Crimea, which is currently occupied by Russia.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that NATO still can conclude a treaty with Russia that will satisfy both sides and that he hopes it will happen in the coming days or weeks.
Putin and Macron hold phone talks
President of France Emmanuel Macron spoke to Russian President Putin, by telephone on Monday for the second time in four days. The Kremlin said the two leaders had discussed Ukraine and Mr. Putin’s demands for “security guarantees” that would include a legally binding halt on NATO expansion to the east.
Military drills in Ukraine
Units of jet artillery of the Armed Forces of Ukraine practiced deployment at firing positions and aiming at conventional enemy targets. Operators of Hurricane multiple rocket launchers trained in conditions as close as possible to combat, near the administrative border with the temporarily occupied Crimea. The alarmed jet fighters quickly moved out of the area of concentration, marched, deployed fire positions in the area, and aimed at conditional targets for their further defeat.
This is part of a series of local military drills in Ukraine, where different units practice repelling hypothetical Russian aggression from all possible directions. The drills also included training with new weapons, such as NLAW that allies provided for Ukraine.
In parallel, territorial defense continues to develop in all Ukrainian oblasts underpinned by civil-military training that different NGOs currently conduct in Ukrainian cities.
Russia rotates its occupation forces in Donbas and reinforces them with anti-tank weapons and snipers
Ukraine’s intelligence reports that the command of the Russian Armed Forces continues to keep ready to use the operational groups of the Russian occupation forces in the temporarily occupied territory in Donetsk and Luhansk regions that are about 30,000 troops. In particular, Russia carried out a planned rotation of advanced units of the 1st (Donetsk) and 2nd (Luhansk) army corps and reinforced them by sniper pairs and anti-tank missile systems “to cause additional losses to the Armed forces of Ukraine and provoke fire in return.”
How weapons from allies would help Ukraine fend off Russia’s invasion
The threat of large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine paradoxically opened a window of opportunity for Kyiv: weapons from its allies. At the eighth year of the war in the Donbas, the West has finally heard Ukrainian requests for additional defensive weapons. Kyiv has already received thousands of pieces of Western weaponry, and the shipments keep running.
According to RFE/RL’s project Donbas.Realii, Ukraine can now fully destroy two Soviet-style motorized rifle divisions using only the weapons supplied by allies. A late Soviet motorized rifle division could have over 200 tanks with hundreds of transport vehicles. Here are key takeaways from the article.
How weapons from allies would help Ukraine fend off Russia’s invasion
Russia demonstrates its field camp in less than 50 kilometers to Polish and Ukrainian borders
On the morning of February 1, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that servicemen of the motorized infantry unit of the Eastern Military District, involved in the inspection of the Union State response forces, had completed the deployment of a field camp at the Brest shooting range which is located in less than 50 kilometers to Ukrainian, Polish and NATO borders.
The US prepares sanctions to target Russian elites
The United States and its allies have prepared a list of Russian elites and their family members in or near Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle to hit with economic sanctions should Russia invade Ukraine. Targeting Russian oligarchs is only one part of a plan by the United States and its allies to punish Putin should he launch an invasion of Ukraine. Other penalties include sanctions on Russian financial institutions and export control measures that could attempt to choke off broad swaths of industrial and consumer technologies to Russia.
Sixth plane with US military assistance in Kyiv
The next sixth plane with US military assistance has arrived in Kyiv, delivering 84 tonnes of small arms ammunition for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
“The day hasn’t passed yet and we’re unloading the 6th bird from our friends from the United States! 84 tons of ammunition arrived in Kyiv! In total, for today we’ve received about 500 tons of defense equipment from the United States! And this isn’t the end,” Defense Minister of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov commented.
“We vastly prefer the path of dialogue and diplomacy, but we will continue to provide Ukraine the defensive assistance needed to defend against Russia’s massive military force assembled on its borders,” the US Embassy in Ukraine posted on twitter.
Zelenskyy signs decree to bolster Ukraine’s military and complete military reform
President Zelenskyy signed the decree “On priority measures to strengthen the defense capabilities of the state, increase the attractiveness of military service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the gradual transition to a professional army.”
The decree increases the size of Ukraine’s armed forces by 100,000 troops over three years and raises soldiers’ salaries, ending conscription starting 1 January 2024, in order to finish the reform of Ukraine’s army towards a professional army.
Zelenskyy signs decree to bolster Ukraine’s military and complete military reform
Canadian defense minister in Kyiv
The Minister of National Defense of Canada Anita Anand visited Ukraine where she had a meeting with Ukraine’s Minister of Defense Oleksiy Reznikov. The parties discussed the security situation and cooperation.
“Special attention was paid to the strengthening of the security situation related to joint Russian-Belarusian military exercises near Ukraine’s borders, further use of hybrid methods of warfare by the Russian military and political leadership against both Ukraine and NATO member states,” Hanna Maliar deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine noted.
Reznikov reiterated his gratitude for the Canadian Government’s decision to provide assistance in support of Ukraine, as well as extending Operation UNIFIER until 2025 and expanding its military training mission in the country. Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand during her visit to Kyiv got an updated assessment of Ukraine’s military needs and will discuss the list with the Canadian prime minister.
Ministers agreed about the next meeting in Canada in March.
UN Security Council meeting ends
During the meeting of UN Security Council that was initiated by the US to prevent Russian invasion to Ukraine, Ukraine’s Permanent Representative to the UN Sergiy Kyslytsya has said that Russia, which keeps its troops on Ukraine’s border, should be judged by its actions, not words, Ukrinform reports.
The UN Security Council voted to support a meeting on Ukraine initiated by the United States amid the threat of Russian invasion. The meeting will take place on February 18.
First Minister of Scotland urges end Russian “illicit cash flows through London”
In her new article, First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon calls for “clear mechanisms” of “uprooting Kremlin-linked oligarchs” in the United Kingdom and ending “flows of illicit cash through the City of London.”
“It has been two and a half years since the publication of parliament’s “Russia report”, which laid bare the extent of links between the Kremlin and Russian-backed financial interests – and the resulting endless flows of illicit cash through the City of London. The UK’s allies are beginning to take note of the intractability of the problem,” the minister wrote.
“So while Ukrainians must and will defend themselves from aggression if attempts at diplomacy fail, we cannot be blind to the circumstances that have led to the current crisis, and that includes the situation where wealth with direct links to the Putin regime has been allowed to proliferate here in the UK with often the scantest regard paid to its provenance or to the influence it seeks to exert on our democracy.”
Russians sign open letter demanding Putin stop his war policy
Thousands of Russians have signed the open letter from the Russian Congress of the Intelligentsia “Against the war, against the self-isolation of Russia, against the restoration of totalitarianism.” The letter criticizes Putin’s military policy against Ukraine while promising to do everything possible “to prevent, and if necessary, to stop the war.” They claim that Russians are against the war and have become hostages of Putin’s “criminal adventurism.”
“We are speaking on behalf of Russia, and not you [the government], because the peoples of Russia, having lost millions of people in the wars of the past, for many decades have been living by the proverb “anything, but not war.” Have you forgotten about this?” the authors state.
“Nobody asked us” – Russian intellectuals rebuke Putin’s policy of war against Ukraine
How do the military forces of Ukraine and Russia compare? | Infographics
Our visualization based on the 2022 Global Firepower rankings.
Ukrainian MPs say thanks to Ukrainian allies in parliament
Ukrainian MPs thanked the international partners for their assistance to Ukraine in overcoming the military aggression of the Russian Federation. Several dozen MPs from various parliamentary factions and groups came to the rostrum to express gratitude to international partners for assistance in countering the military aggression of the Russian Federation.
The Ukrainian MPs unfolded the flags of the countries that provided military aid to Ukraine, in particular the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Türkiye, Denmark and others.
Debunking all disinfo is counterproductive − NATO representative in Ukraine
NATO uses fact bases, and a proactive and transparent approach to informing its audiences. However, it’s not important to debunk every piece of misinformation because it’s counterproductive.
Instead, “we need to increase our society’s digital and media literacy. There should be legal procedures in place. It’s also about involving civil society and fact-checkers, increasing society’s resilience. It’s about teaching, educating, explaining, and being proactive,” Ms. Vineta Kleine said in an interview with Kyiv not Kiev.
Debunking all disinfo is counterproductive − NATO representative in Ukraine
