Russian President Vladimir Putin was defiant in his first state-of-the-nation speech in nearly two years, reiterating that Moscow would continue to fight for its “historic lands” in Ukraine.
(Bloomberg) — Russian President Vladimir Putin was defiant in his first state-of-the-nation speech in nearly two years, reiterating that Moscow would continue to fight for its “historic lands” in Ukraine.
US President Joe Biden will hold talks with his Polish counterpart in Warsaw and is scheduled to deliver an address on Tuesday night, following Monday’s surprise trip to Kyiv to meet Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Biden said the goal of his visit to the Ukrainian capital — shortly before this Friday’s one-year mark since Russia’s invasion — was to reaffirm his administration’s “unwavering and unflagging commitment to Ukraine’s democracy, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.”
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Key Developments
- Putin Defiant as Struggling Ukraine Invasion Nears Second Year
- Pentagon Dysfunction Reveals Cracks in US War Machine
- How Europe Ditched Russian Fossil Fuels With Spectacular Speed
- China Looks to Show World It Can Broker Russia-Ukraine Peace
- EU Ban on Russian Fuel Marks New Era for Global Diesel Market
On the Ground
Ukrainian troops repelled assaults near 11 settlements in the Donetsk, Kharkiv and Luhansk regions over the past day, the country’s General Staff said on Facebook. Russia carried out six missile attacks and 28 air strikes aimed at civilian infrastructure of the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions and fired 86 salvos from rocket launchers, it said.
(All times CET)
China May Provide Lethal Aid to Russia, NATO Chief Says (12:58 p.m.)
NATO’s Stoltenberg warned that China may provide Moscow with weapons. Earlier, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused China of privately weighing whether to give Russia weapons even while saying “they haven’t crossed that line yet.”
“We are also increasingly concerned that China may be planning to provide lethal support for Russia’s war,” Stoltenberg said on Tuesday.
NATO Chief Disputes Putin Speech, Says Nobody is Attacking Russia (12:52 p.m.)
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg rebutted Putin’s state-of-the-nation address, during which the Russian leader said the US and its European allies were to blame for the conflict.
“Nobody is attacking Russia,” Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels. “Russia is the aggressor. Ukraine is the victim of aggression. And we are supporting Ukraine’s right to self-defense, which is enshrined in the UN Charter.”
Russia will Suspend Participation in START Nuclear Pact (12:28 p.m.)
Putin said Russia will suspend its observation of the New START nuclear weapons treaty, dealing a blow to the last accord with the US limiting their strategic arsenals.
Russia won’t allow the US and NATO to inspect its nuclear facilities, though it won’t be the first to resume testing of its atomic weapons, Putin said in his state-of-the-nation address. The treaty that was extended in 2021 is due to expire in 2026.
Suspending the treaty means the US could lose access to inspections and monitoring data about the number of deployed Russian nuclear warheads, as well as the land- and sea-based vehicles used to launch them. About 200 inspectors drawn from the Department of Defense, the intelligence community and the State Department are assigned to carry out verification under new START, according to Steven Pifer, the former US ambassador to Ukraine who conducted arms-control negotiations with Russia.
Putin Remains Defiant on Russian Invasion (11:30 a.m.)
Putin vowed to press on with his faltering invasion of Ukraine until Russia’s goals are achieved and threatened a backlash if the US and its allies supply the government in Kyiv with long-range missiles.
“We will fulfill the tasks set step-by-step, carefully and consistently,” Putin told the Russian parliament and top officials in Moscow on Tuesday, to repeat applause. “One thing should be clear to everyone — the more long-range Western systems arrive in Ukraine, the further we will be forced to move the threat away from our borders. It’s obvious.”
As Russia’s war in Ukraine nears the 12-month mark on Feb. 24, Putin focused his first state-of-the-nation address in nearly two years on efforts to shift the blame for the conflict to the US and its allies, where he claimed godlessness and pedophilia have become “the norm.”
Russian Mercenary Chief Lashes Out at Military Top Brass (10:54 a.m.)
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of Russian mercenary group Wagner, accused top military commanders of refusing to supply his fighters with ammunition.
“I’m not poking you in the nose for the fact that you sit down for breakfast, lunch and dinner with gold dishes, and send your daughters, granddaughters and bugs on vacation to Dubai,” Prigozhin said in an audio file posted on Telegram. “You’re not embarrassed by anything. At the moment when Russian soldiers are dying at the front. I’m just asking: give me ammunition!”
Prigozhin has been in conflict with the defense ministry over his mercenaries’ role in the Ukraine war in competition with regular armed forces.
China Peace Plan ‘Must Include Russian Withdrawal’ (8:30 a.m.)
Any Chinese proposal to end the war in Ukraine must include a complete Russian withdrawal behind its own borders otherwise it won’t work, according to the vice president of the European Commission.
“China always says that one should respect borders so if that’s the starting point for the peace plan then it could work,” the EU’s Frans Timmermans said in an interview with Germany’s Deutschlandfunk radio. “But if the peace plan assumes that the territory Russia has taken remains Russian then it won’t fly,” he said, adding that if it turns out China is supplying the Kremlin with weapons that would have “very serious consequences” for the bloc’s ties with the government in Beijing.
German Exports to Russia Slump (8 a.m.)
German exports to Russia declined by 57.5% to €900 million ($960 million) in January compared with the same month a year earlier due to the war and sanctions, according to Federal Statistics Office data.
Russia therefore dropped to 12th among the most important destinations for German exports outside the EU, from fifth before it launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbor.
US Pledges Most Support to Ukraine (7:52 a.m.)
The US has once again taken the lead in pledging support for Ukraine, having earmarked more than €73 billion ($77.9 billion) for Kyiv, according to data compiled by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. The European Union follows with commitments of about €55 billion.
The US gave about €44 billion in military aid since January 2022, according to the institute’s latest Ukraine Support Tracker, far outstripping commitments from other countries. The UK was the next-largest donor, contributing about €5 billion in military equipment.
Germany Tells China It Can’t Arm Russia (7:52 a.m.)
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said she made clear to China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, that as a permanent member of the UN security council, Beijing is also responsible for the preservation of global peace.
“That, of course, also means that China may not send any weapons, including dual-use goods, to Russia,” Baerbock said after the meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday. Wang is expected to arrive in Moscow on Tuesday afternoon, Tass reported.
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