“We will fight as long as we can”: Zelensky vows to defend the “fortress” Bakhmout
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky assured Friday that his country would defend “as long as it could” the key city of Bakhmout in eastern Ukraine, which has become the epicenter of the fighting.
“No one will abandon Bakhmout (…). We will fight as long as we can”, declared Volodymyr Zelensky, qualifying this city as a “fortress”.
“If the (Western’s) arms deliveries to kyiv are accelerated, especially long-range weapons, not only are we not going to withdraw from Bakhmout, (but) we are going to start ending the occupation of the Donbass,” an eastern region partly in Russian hands, he added.
US to use funds seized from Russian oligarch to help Ukraine
The US Justice Secretary announced the first transfer of confiscated Russian funds on Friday, with the aim of helping Ukraine, according to the channel CNN. The amount is estimated at $5.4 million.
“I am announcing today that I have authorized the first-ever transfer of seized Russian funds destined for Ukraine,” said Merrick Garland, adding that the confiscated assets followed the indictment of oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev in April.
This sum will go to the State Department “to support the Ukrainian people”, said the minister.
Ukraine’s accession to the EU: Zelensky considers it “possible” to start discussions this year
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that it was “possible” to start official discussions this year for his country’s accession to the European Union.
“There is an agreement on the fact that it is possible to start negotiations this year on Ukraine’s accession to the European Union”, assured the Ukrainian president at the end of the EU-Ukraine summit which took place on Friday in Kyiv.
“We discussed and we are already discussing as members of the European community”, underlined Volodymyr Zelensky.
EU reaches agreement on price cap for Russian petroleum products
The European Union reached an agreement on Friday on a price cap for Russian petroleum products, the Swedish EU Presidency announced in a tweet.
“EU ambassadors today approved the price cap for Russian petroleum products before final adoption by the European Council,” Swedish officials tweeted on behalf of their country, which holds the rotating EU presidency.
It is an “important agreement which is part of the continued response of the European Union and its partners to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine”.
>> Read more here.
US announces more than $2 billion in new military aid to Ukraine
The United States on Friday announced more than $2 billion in new military aid to Ukraine to help it fight off the Russian invasion.
It includes in particular “crucial air defense capabilities to help Ukraine defend its population, as well as armored infantry vehicles”, and ammunition for the Himars rocket launcher system, the Pentagon said in a statement.
Fighting continues in eastern Ukraine as Bakhmout becomes epicenter of clashes
Clashes continue in the Bakhmout region of eastern Ukraine, which has become the epicenter of the fighting, nearly a year after the war began.
An American humanitarian doctor was killed in an attack on his vehicle carrying volunteer rescuers, according to the NGO Global Outreach Doctors, with whom he worked.
According to the authorities, this town now has around 6,500 inhabitants compared to around 70,000 before the war.
France and Italy to deliver air defense system to Ukraine
France and Italy will deliver a MAMBA medium-range surface-to-air defense system in the spring to help Ukraine “defend against attacks by Russian drones, missiles and aircraft”, the ministry said on Friday. French of the Armies.
“The supply of such a system responds to the urgency expressed by Oleksiï Reznikov, Ukrainian Defense Minister, to his French and Italian counterparts, to protect civilian populations and infrastructures against Russian attacks from the air”, added the ministry in a statement.
>> Our full article can be found here.
EU wants to try to finance Ukrainian reconstruction with frozen Russian assets
The European Union (EU) said Friday it wanted to find a way to use Russian assets frozen in Western countries to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine, a measure demanded by kyiv but legally complicated to implement.
“The EU will intensify (…) its efforts to use frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine’s reconstruction and for reparations purposes, in accordance with European and international law,” they said. in a press release the President of the European Council Charles Michel and the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.
Ukraine to get longer range western weapons
The United States promised on Friday to deliver ground-fired bombs to Ukraine that could nearly double the range of Ukraine’s strike force against the Russians.
These are the “GLSDB”, small diameter bombs manufactured by Boeing and Saab, which can fly up to 150 km and therefore threaten Russian positions behind the front lines.
“The longer our weapons are and the more our troops are mobile, the sooner Russia’s brutal aggression will end,” Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Hello everyone!
Welcome to this live broadcast devoted to the news of the Russian invasion of Ukraine this Saturday, February 4.
