'No indication’ of direct military threat to Moldova or Romania, says US
The US has “no indication” of a direct military threat by Russia to Moldova or Romania at this time, US state department spokesperson Vedant Patel has said, after Ukraine said two Russian cruise missiles entered both countries’ airspace this morning.
Patel added:
We maintain close contact and communication with our Moldovan partners and Romanian allies.
Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, said two of these sea-launched rockets entered Moldovan and Romanian airspace soon after 10am local time, as air raid sirens rang out across the country. They then reentered Ukraine and the western Chernivtsi region, he suggested.
Moldova summoned the Russian ambassador over the incident and confirmed at least one missile had overflown its airspace. This is not the first time Russia has sent its missiles into Moldova.
Romania is a Nato country. Its foreign ministry categorically denied the report. It said the Russian cruise missiles came to within 22 miles (35km) of the country’s north-eastern border but did not violate its territory. Two MiG-21 aircraft on a training flight were diverted to monitor the area, it said.
Russia launched a large-scale missile attack on Friday in Ukraine, striking several cities including the capital, Kyiv. Ukraine’s air force command said it had shot down 61 out of 70 cruise missiles and five Iranian-made drones. The attacks appeared to be an attempt to penetrate Ukraine’s air defences and to intimidate its allies.
Two Russian cruise missiles have entered the airspace of Moldova and Romania, Ukraine has said. Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, said the Kalibr rockets crossed into Moldova at 10.18am local time on Friday. They then flew into Romania at 10.33am at the intersection of the state border, before recrossing into western Ukraine, he said.
Moldova confirmed at least one missile had overflown its airspace and summoned the Russian ambassador over the incident. This is not the first time Russia has sent its missiles into Moldova, with the conflict in danger of spilling out across the region. On Friday, Moldova’s pro-EU government resigned, adding to the sense of crisis.
Romania’s foreign ministry categorically denied the report. It said the Russian cruise missiles came to within 22 miles (35km) of the country’s north-eastern border but did not violate its territory. Two MiG-21 aircraft on a training flight were diverted to monitor the area, it said.
The US has “no indication” of a direct military threat by Russia to Moldova or Romania at this time, US state department spokesperson Vedant Patel has said. “We maintain close contact and communication with our Moldovan partners and Romanian allies,” Patel added.
Russia has launched a major offensive in eastern Ukraine and is trying to break through defences near the town of Kreminna, the governor for the Luhansk region said on Thursday. Serhiy Haidai said Russian troops had gone on the attack and were trying to advance westwards across a winter landscape of snow and forests. There had been “maximum escalation” and a big increase in shooting and shelling, he said.
Russian forces likely lost “at least 30” armoured vehicles in a single, failed attack near the eastern Ukrainian city of Vuhledar earlier this week, British intelligence said on Friday, sparking renewed anger among prominent Russian pro-war telegram channels over Moscow’s military blunders. The Ukrainian ministry of defence released a video on Twitter that appeared to show several Russian armoured vehicles and tanks scattered across the battlefield near Vuhledar.
Air raid sirens sounded in Kyiv and other cities around breakfast time on Friday. There were five booms in the Ukrainian capital, as air defence batteries shot down enemy missiles. A trail of white vapour could be seen above tower blocks and the railway station area. It was the first attack on Kyiv for two weeks.
“Russian forces have likely made tactical gains in two key sectors” since 7 February, the UK’s ministry of defence has said in its latest intelligence update. “On the northern outskirts of the Donbas town of Bakhmut, Wagner Group forces have pushed 2-3km further west, controlling countryside near the M-03 main route into the town. Russian forces increasingly dominate the northern approaches to Bakhmut,” the report says.
Slovakia can begin the process of talks on delivering MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, prime minister Eduard Heger has said. The talks will be internal and also with the European Commission, because Slovakia could have the delivery reimbursed, he added. His defence minister, Jaroslav Naď, has said his country no longer needed the jets and it could either sell them or give them to Ukraine. No decision had yet been taken, he added.
Ukraine has officially asked the Netherlands for F-16 fighter jets, its air force has said. The Dutch defence minister, Kajsa Ollongren, confirmed the request, saying: “We need to discuss the availability of the F-16 with the Americans and other allies ... And we have to look seriously at the consequences – it can’t just happen overnight. We have to be honest about that.”
Any decision to supply fighter jets to Ukraine must come from Nato, Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, has said. He said “some countries” at an EU summit in Brussels did not agree with his proposals about deliveries of ammunition to Kyiv. Morawiecki added that Poland was “not excluding” closing further border crossings with Belarus, citing “growing tensions with Belarus and they are being instrumentalised by the Russians and the Kremlin”.
Switzerland said on Friday it has rejected a request from Madrid to allow Spain to re-export Swiss-made anti-aircraft guns to Ukraine. Spain made the request in January to allow it to send two 35mm anti-aircraft guns to Ukraine. Switzerland’s War Materials Act does not allow the export of war materials if the destination country is involved in an internal or international armed conflict.
A group of 35 countries will demand that Russian and Belarusian athletes are banned from the 2024 Paris Olympics,according to Lithuania’s sports minister Jurgita Šiugždinienė. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) recently moved away from having an outright ban on athletes from Russia and Belarus and is investigating ways they can qualify for the Olympics under a neutral flag.
A Russian former governor has been sentenced to 22 years in a maximum security prison for double murder. Sergei Furgal, who was governor of the far-eastern Khabarovsk region, has denied the charges of attempted murder and ordering contract killings of business rivals. His detention in 2020 sparked massive anti-Kremlin protests in the Khabarovsk region, and his supporters say the charges were politically motivated, to punish him for taking too independent a line from Moscow.
Marina Ovsyannikova, the former Russian state TV editor who interrupted a live news broadcast to protest against the start of the Ukraine war, has described her “chaotic” escape from house arrest in Moscow and how she fled across Europe to seek asylum in France.
Slovakia can begin the process of talks on delivering MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, prime minister Eduard Heger has said.
Reuters has cited Heger as saying:
The Ukrainian president asked me to deliver the MiGs. Now, because this official request has come, the process of negotiations can be started.
The talks will be internal and also with the European Commission, because Slovakia could have the delivery reimbursed, he added.
His defence minister, Jaroslav Naď, has said his country no longer needed the jets and it could either sell them or give them to Ukraine. No decision had yet been taken, he added.
'No indication’ of direct military threat to Moldova or Romania, says US
The US has “no indication” of a direct military threat by Russia to Moldova or Romania at this time, US state department spokesperson Vedant Patel has said, after Ukraine said two Russian cruise missiles entered both countries’ airspace this morning.
Patel added:
We maintain close contact and communication with our Moldovan partners and Romanian allies.
Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, said two of these sea-launched rockets entered Moldovan and Romanian airspace soon after 10am local time, as air raid sirens rang out across the country. They then reentered Ukraine and the western Chernivtsi region, he suggested.
Moldova summoned the Russian ambassador over the incident and confirmed at least one missile had overflown its airspace. This is not the first time Russia has sent its missiles into Moldova.
Romania is a Nato country. Its foreign ministry categorically denied the report. It said the Russian cruise missiles came to within 22 miles (35km) of the country’s north-eastern border but did not violate its territory. Two MiG-21 aircraft on a training flight were diverted to monitor the area, it said.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has said western efforts to isolate his country have been a fiasco during remarks at an event after returning from a nearly week-long tour of Africa.
Moscow is building stronger relations with countries in Africa, the Middle East, the Asia-Pacific and elsewhere, Lavrov told Russian diplomats at his ministry.
He said:
Despite the anti-Russian orgy orchestrated by Washington, London and Brussels, we are strengthening good neighbourly relations in the widest sense of this concept with the international majority.
Lavrov’s latest trip took him to Mali, Mauritania and Sudan as well as Iraq. He also recently visited South Africa, Eswatini, Angola and Eritrea.
Russia launched a large-scale missile attack on Friday in Ukraine, striking several cities including the capital, Kyiv. Ukraine’s air force command said it had shot down 61 out of 70 cruise missiles and five Iranian-made drones. The attacks appeared to be an attempt to penetrate Ukraine’s air defences and to intimidate its allies.
Two Russian cruise missiles have entered the airspace of Moldova and Romania, Ukraine has said. Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, said the Kalibr rockets crossed into Moldova at 10.18am local time on Friday. They then flew into Romania at 10.33am at the intersection of the state border, before recrossing into western Ukraine, he said.
Moldova confirmed at least one missile had overflown its airspace and summoned the Russian ambassador over the incident. This is not the first time Russia has sent its missiles into Moldova, with the conflict in danger of spilling out across the region. On Friday, Moldova’s pro-EU government resigned, adding to the sense of crisis.
Romania’s foreign ministry categorically denied the report. It said the Russian cruise missiles came to within 22 miles (35km) of the country’s north-eastern border but did not violate its territory. Two MiG-21 aircraft on a training flight were diverted to monitor the area, it said.
Russia has launched a major offensive in eastern Ukraine and is trying to break through defences near the town of Kreminna, the governor for the Luhansk region said on Thursday. Serhiy Haidai said Russian troops had gone on the attack and were trying to advance westwards across a winter landscape of snow and forests. There had been “maximum escalation” and a big increase in shooting and shelling, he said.
Russian forces likely lost “at least 30” armoured vehicles in a single, failed attack near the eastern Ukrainian city of Vuhledar earlier this week, British intelligence said on Friday, sparking renewed anger among prominent Russian pro-war telegram channels over Moscow’s military blunders. The Ukrainian ministry of defence released a video on Twitter that appeared to show several Russian armoured vehicles and tanks scattered across the battlefield near Vuhledar.
Air raid sirens sounded in Kyiv and other cities around breakfast time on Friday. There were five booms in the Ukrainian capital, as air defence batteries shot down enemy missiles. A trail of white vapour could be seen above tower blocks and the railway station area. It was the first attack on Kyiv for two weeks.
“Russian forces have likely made tactical gains in two key sectors” since 7 February, the UK’s ministry of defence has said in its latest intelligence update. “On the northern outskirts of the Donbas town of Bakhmut, Wagner Group forces have pushed 2-3km further west, controlling countryside near the M-03 main route into the town. Russian forces increasingly dominate the northern approaches to Bakhmut,” the report says.
Ukraine has officially asked the Netherlands for F-16 fighter jets, its air force has said. The Dutch defence minister, Kajsa Ollongren, confirmed the request, saying: “We need to discuss the availability of the F-16 with the Americans and other allies ... And we have to look seriously at the consequences – it can’t just happen overnight. We have to be honest about that.”
Any decision to supply fighter jets to Ukraine must come from Nato, Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, has said. He said “some countries” at an EU summit in Brussels did not agree with his proposals about deliveries of ammunition to Kyiv. Morawiecki added that Poland was “not excluding” closing further border crossings with Belarus, citing “growing tensions with Belarus and they are being instrumentalised by the Russians and the Kremlin”.
Switzerland said on Friday it has rejected a request from Madrid to allow Spain to re-export Swiss-made anti-aircraft guns to Ukraine. Spain made the request in January to allow it to send two 35mm anti-aircraft guns to Ukraine. Switzerland’s War Materials Act does not allow the export of war materials if the destination country is involved in an internal or international armed conflict.
A group of 35 countries will demand that Russian and Belarusian athletes are banned from the 2024 Paris Olympics,according to Lithuania’s sports minister Jurgita Šiugždinienė. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) recently moved away from having an outright ban on athletes from Russia and Belarus and is investigating ways they can qualify for the Olympics under a neutral flag.
A Russian former governor has been sentenced to 22 years in a maximum security prison for double murder. Sergei Furgal, who was governor of the far-eastern Khabarovsk region, has denied the charges of attempted murder and ordering contract killings of business rivals. His detention in 2020 sparked massive anti-Kremlin protests in the Khabarovsk region, and his supporters say the charges were politically motivated, to punish him for taking too independent a line from Moscow.
Marina Ovsyannikova, the former Russian state TV editor who interrupted a live news broadcast to protest against the start of the Ukraine war, has described her “chaotic” escape from house arrest in Moscow and how she fled across Europe to seek asylum in France.
Marina Ovsyannikova, the former Russian state TV editor who famously interrupted a live news broadcast to protest against the start of the Ukraine war, has described her “chaotic” escape from house arrest in Moscow and how she fled across Europe to seek asylum in France.
“I didn’t want to emigrate until the very last moment,” Ovsyannikova said at a Paris press conference with the journalists’ organisation Reporters without Borders.
Russia is still my country, even if war criminals have power there. But I had no choice – it was either prison or exile. I’m very grateful to France, a free country, to have welcomed me.
Marina Ovsyannikova at a press conference in Paris with the Reporters Without Borders executive director, Christophe Deloire, on Friday. Photograph: Mohammed Badra/EPA
Christophe Deloire, the secretary general of Reporters without Borders, which helped organise the escape under the codename “Evelyne”, likened it to “the most famous crossings of the Berlin Wall”.
The Ukrainian-born Ovsyannikova, 44, gained international attention in March after bursting into a studio of Channel One, her then-employer, during a live news bulletin to denounce the Ukraine war, holding a poster reading “no war”. At the time, she was fined 30,000 roubles (£460) for ignoring protest laws.
She continued protesting against the war after quitting her job at Channel One. Last August, she was charged with spreading false information about the Russian army for holding up a poster that read “Putin is a murderer, his soldiers are fascists” during a solo protest on the Moskva River embankment opposite the Kremlin. She was subsequently forced to wear an electronic ankle bracelet and placed under house arrest in Moscow, where she was to await trial. She faced up to 10 years in prison if found guilty.
Ovsyannikova said that shortly before a court hearing in Moscow last October, her lawyers told her to flee to save herself and her 11-year-old daughter. They told her she wouldn’t survive prison, and that she would be “broken”.
35 countries demand 2024 Olympics ban for Russia and Belarus
A group of 35 countries will demand that Russian and Belarusian athletes are banned from the 2024 Paris Olympics, according to Lithuania’s sports minister Jurgita Šiugždinienė.
The US, Germany and Australia are among the countries whose ministers participated in an online meeting today to discuss the call for the ban, a Lithuanian ministry spokesperson said.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, was in today’s call with 35 ministers, the spokesperson said. They said Zelenskiy’s message to participants was that principles of neutrality cannot apply to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Britain’s sports minister, Lucy Frazer, described the meeting as “very productive” and reiterated the UK’s position that Russia and Belarus must not be represented at the Olympics.
A privilege to host @ZelenskyyUa today at our summit on Olympic participation.
It was a very productive meeting between 35 nations, and I made the UK's position very clear: as long as Putin continues his barbaric war, Russia and Belarus must not be represented at the Olympics. pic.twitter.com/ohN9eFriKg
We are going in the direction that we would not need a boycott because all countries are unanimous.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) recently moved away from having an outright ban on athletes from Russia and Belarus and is investigating ways they can qualify for the Olympics under a neutral flag.
Ukraine’s athletes have accused the IOC of rewarding Vladimir Putin’s aggression and being “on the wrong side of history”, and Ukraine has threatened to boycott the games if Russian and Belarusian athletes compete.
Russia likely lost 'at least 30' armoured vehicles near Vuhledar, says UK
Pjotr Sauer
Russian forces likely lost “at least 30” armoured vehicles in a single, failed attack near the eastern Ukrainian city of Vuhledar earlier this week, British intelligence said on Friday, sparking renewed anger among prominent Russian pro-war telegram channels over Moscow’s military blunders.
“Russian troops likely fled and abandoned at least 30 mostly intact armoured vehicles in a single incident after a failed assault,” Britain’s defence ministry said in a daily briefing.
Last month, Russia launched a fresh Russian assault around the southern Donbas town of Vuhledar, as Moscow stepped up its assault on the eastern front.
The Ukrainian ministry of defence on Friday released a video on Twitter that appeared to show several Russian armoured vehicles and tanks scattered across the battlefield near Vuhledar.
“There are clearly questions to the command for this episode, a lot of equipment was lost…The tank division has lost its combat capability,” wrote Rybar, a pro-war blogger with over a million followers.
Another Russian soldier with the callsign “13th” called for the execution of commanders responsible for the failed offensive.
“I just have no words...They need to shoot a dozen generals and a couple of dozen colonels...then maybe the rest will start thinking,” the soldier wrote on Telegram.
The Russian ministry of defence has not yet commented on the incident. Earlier this week, defence minister Sergei Shoigu said that the military operations around Vuhledar were “progressing”.
The Guardian’s Europe correspondent Jon Henley rounds up developments in Ukraine’s neighbour Moldova today:
Moldova’s pro-western government has resigned after 18 months in power after a series of economic and political crises that have engulfed the country in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The prime minister, Natalia Gavrilita, told a news conference on Friday that the “time has come for me to announce my resignation”, adding that no one could have expected her government “to manage so many crises caused by Russian aggression”. The president, Maia Sandu, accepted Gavrilita’s resignation.
Hours earlier, the government said a Russian missile had violated Moldovan airspace and summoned Russia’s ambassador to protest.
Moldova’s intelligence service said on Thursday that Russia was acting to destabilise the country, after the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said Kyiv had intercepted a “plan for the destruction of Moldova” by Russian intelligence.
EU leaders accepted Moldova as a membership candidate last year in a diplomatic triumph for Sandu. Russia, however, has troops in Moldova’s breakaway region of Transdniestria and opposes any move to join the 27-nation bloc.
My colleague Luke Harding is in Kyiv, and tweets to suggest that reports of planes taking off in Belarus have triggered the latest round of air alerts in Ukraine.
Here we go again: more air raid sirens in Kyiv, a little before 5pm local time. Reports of Russian MiG-31 fighter jets have taken off in Belarus
Ukraine’s state broadcaster is reporting on Telegram that air alarms are sounding in Ukraine again in places including Kyiv, Odesa, Lviv and Vinnytsia.
