Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Kremlin forces are “advancing successfully” in the fight for control of the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.
(Bloomberg) — Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Kremlin forces are “advancing successfully” in the fight for control of the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.
Earlier, Andrij Melnyk, a deputy foreign minister in the government in Kyiv, said that the situation on the frontline is “very precarious” and Ukrainian forces need Germany to take the lead in forging a coalition to send fighter jets, warships and submarines.
President Vladimir Putin’s government is meanwhile pressuring the Bank of Russia to be more upbeat about the economic outlook and signal it’s ready to loosen monetary policy. Ahead of the bank’s first board meeting of the year, officials want it to send a clearer hint that interest rates may come down later in 2023, according to people familiar with the deliberations.
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On the Ground
Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said border troops shot down a Russian fighter jet covering the infantry’s advance over Bakhmut with a portable anti-aircraft missile system. Russia carried out six missile strikes and 24 air attacks over the past day, Ukraine’s General Staff said on Facebook. Kremlin forces also unleashed 75 barrages from multiple-launch rocket systems, hitting civilian targets in the Kharkiv, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk and Kherson regions, according to the statement. Ukrainian troops repelled assaults near 10 settlements in Donetsk and Luhansk, the General Staff said.
(All times CET)
Central Bank Pressed to Signal Looser Policy (11:55 a.m.)
Governor Elvira Nabiullina and her colleagues so far are unwilling to suggest any imminent easing because of risks of higher inflation, the people familiar said, and instead are likely to indicate that rates have little room to fall.
But they are open to improving forecasts, with the government content if the central bank delivers a message that puts it on a track toward looser policy in the months ahead, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity to describe the unusual conflict within the economic team.
Russia Warns of ‘Unpredictable’ Consequences (11:50 a.m.)
Shoigu also warned the West that its beefed up military aid for Ukraine could lead to “unpredictable” consequences, according to the Tass state news service.
The US and its allies are supplying Kyiv with “heavy offensive weapons” and openly calling for the capture of Russian territory, Shoigu said according to Tass. “These steps are dragging NATO countries into the conflict and could bring the escalation to an unpredictable level.” The US and European nations have agreed to supply battle tanks and longer-range missiles to Ukraine in a bid to help it decisively roll back Russian forces occupying its territory this year.
Storms Force Russian Warships Into Port (11:15 a.m.)
Heavy storms on the Black Sea have forced Russia to return some of its warships armed with cruise missiles to their bases, according to Natalia Humenyuk, a spokeswoman for the Ukrainian military.
Two Russian navy vessels that are not armed with missiles remain on duty on the Black Sea, while the Kremlin’s navy is not present on the Azov Sea because of the weather conditions, Humenyuk said.
BP Slows Retreat From Oil (11 a.m.)
BP Plc said it will cut oil and gas output more slowly this decade after the supply disruption caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine boosted prices and delivered record profits.
While the British company said it was doubling down on the transition to cleaner energy with an additional $8 billion of spending to 2030, it will ramp up investments in fossil fuels by the same amount.
Melnyk Sees No Sign Russia Ready for Peace Talks (9 a.m.)
Melnyik told German broadcaster ZDF that Ukraine’s most urgent need is for aircraft like the Eurofighter or Tornado, urging Chancellor Olaf Scholz to move quickly. He also said Ukraine has received no indications from the Kremlin that Russia is ready to engage in genuine peace talks.
“You need two for a dance and you also need two for peace talks,” Melnyk said. “They are talking constantly about negotiations but at the same time they’re bombing cities and apartment buildings,” he added. “So we need the weapons to try to force Putin’s hand.”
He declined “for security reasons” to say whether President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will accept an invitation to attend this week’s EU summit in Brussels but said his presence there is under discussion.
Russia ‘Lacking Munitions, Troops’ (9 a.m.)
Russia has been trying to restart major offensive operations in Ukraine since early last month with the aim of capturing the parts of the Donetsk region it does not already occupy, according to the latest UK Ministry of Defense intelligence update.
Russia’s military has only managed to gain a few hundred meters of territory per week, almost certainly because it lacks munitions and troops, the ministry said, adding that Russia can still accumulate the forces it needs in the coming weeks to “substantially affect the outcome of the war.”
China Urges Quick End to War (7 a.m.)
A Chinese envoy to the United Nations called for a swift end to the conflict and an immediate halt to shelling of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, as well as “maximum efforts to stop the conflict from escalating to a nuclear crisis,” according to a report by state news agency Xinhua.
“China once again calls on relevant parties to bear in mind the interest of the people, strive to promote peace, and try every possible way to push parties to the conflict to resume peace talks and end the war at an early date,” Dai Bing, China’s deputy permanent representative to the UN, told a Security Council briefing, Xinhua reported.
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