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Rallies and vigils were held across the world to mark one year since Russia invaded Ukraine.
Not up to date with all that’s happened in the Russia-Ukraine war this week? Helen Sullivan has handily compiled the Guardian’s must-read news and analysis, here:
Biden rules out sending Ukraine F-16s 'for now'
Joe Biden has also ruled out “for now” sending American advanced fighter jets to Ukraine, telling an interview that Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy “doesn’t need F-16s now”.
The US president told the ABC on Friday “there is no basis upon which there is a rationale, according to our military now, to provide F-16s” to Ukraine.
Asked by interviewer David Muir if that meant “never”, Biden said: “I am ruling it out for now.”
“Look, we’re sending [Zelenskiy] what our seasoned military thinks he needs now. He needs tanks, he needs artillery, he needs air defence, including another Himar[s],” Biden said.
“There’s things he needs now that we’re sending him to put them in a position to be able to make gains this spring and this summer going into the fall.”
Russia appears to have run out of its current stock of Iranian-made drones and will seek to resupply, according to the latest update by the UK Ministry of Defence.
The MoD tweeted that Russia likely sees the drones as “useful decoys which can divert Ukrainian air defences from more effective Russian cruise missiles”.
There have not been any reports of Iranian one-way-attack uncrewed aerial vehicles (OWA-UAVs) being used in Ukraine since around 15 February 2023.
Prior to this, Ukrainian armed forces reported shooting down at least 24 Shahed-136 OWA-UAVs between late January and early February 2023; and scores were destroyed in the first few days of the year.
This lack of OWA-UAV deployments likely indicates that Russia has run down its current stock. Russia will likely seek a resupply.
Although the weapons do not have a good record in destroying their intended targets, Russia likely sees them as useful decoys which can divert Ukrainian air defences from more effective Russian cruise missiles.
Emmanuel Macron has urged Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to “fight” Russian evasion of western sanctions via Turkey.
The French president “underlined the concern of fighting any evasion of the sanctions in place”, his office said, after he spoke to his Turkish counterpart by phone on the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of its neighbour.
He added that “pressure on and isolation of Russia must be increased” to force Moscow to “give up” on its attack.
Erdoğan has been able to maintain relations with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, by refusing to join western sanctions on Russia and ramping up bilateral trade during the war.
The Turkish leader has used his good relations with both Moscow and Kyiv to try to mediate an end to the conflict.
Turkey hosted two early rounds of peace talks and helped strike a UN-backed agreement restoring Ukrainian grain deliveries across the Black Sea.
Erdoğan has also repeatedly tried to bring Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy to Turkey for truce talks.
His office said that he called for a “just peace” in Ukraine in a Friday phone call with Putin.
Belarus president Lukashenko to visit China
The Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, will arrive in China on 28 February for a state visit, the Chinese foreign ministry has said.
Spokesperson Hua Chunying said Lukashenko will visit until 2 March “at the invitation of Chinese president Xi Jinping”.
Lukashenko is a close ally of the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, and has backed Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Belarus is dependent on its neighbour financially and politically.
China is willing to work with Belarus to deepen mutual political trust, the Chinese foreign minister, Qin Gang, told his Belarusian counterpart, Sergei Aleinik, during a phone conversation on Friday, according to a Chinese foreign ministry statement.
In September last year, Xi and Lukashenko announced an “all-weather” strategic partnership, when the two met in the Uzbek capital Samarkand.
'Not rational' for China to be negotiating a peace, Biden says
The US president, Joe Biden, has said it was “not rational” for China to be negotiating the outcome of the Ukraine war, when asked about Beijing’s peace plan for the conflict.
“Putin’s applauding it, so how could it be any good?” Biden told ABC News on Friday.
“The idea that China is going to be negotiating the outcome of a war that’s a totally unjust war for Ukraine, is just not rational.”
China called for a ceasefire and peace talks between Ukraine and Russia on Friday, offering a 12-point proposal to end the fighting.
China’s plan urges both sides to agree to a gradual de-escalation and warns against the use of nuclear weapons.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has cautiously welcomed China’s peace plan to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but said it would be acceptable only if it led to Vladimir Putin pulling his troops out from all occupied Ukrainian territory.
The Ukrainian president said he “wanted to believe” Beijing was interested in a “fair peace”. That meant not “supplying weapons to Russia”, he said, adding: “I’m doing my best to prevent that from happening. This is priority number one.”
Welcome and summary
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
Joe Biden, has said it was “not rational” for China to be negotiating the outcome of the Ukraine war, when asked about Beijing’s peace plan for the conflict.
“Putin’s applauding it, so how could it be any good?” the US president told ABC News on Friday.
Biden also ruled out “for now” sending American advanced fighter jets to Ukraine, telling the interview that Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy “doesn’t need F-16s now”.
The US president told the ABC “there is no basis upon which there is a rationale, according to our military now, to provide F-16s” to Ukraine.
We’ll have more on these stories shortly. In the meantime, here are the key recent developments:
The first Polish Leopard tanks have arrived in Ukraine, with the prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, confirming that four tanks had been delivered. “Poland and Europe stand by your side. We will definitely not leave you, we will support Ukraine until complete victory over Russia,” he said, standing alongside the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, during his visit to Kyiv to mark the the first anniversary of the Russian invasion.
Zelenskiy has declared victory to be inevitable as his country marked the anniversary of the moment it was invaded by Russian troops. In a national address earlier on Friday, Zelenskiy told Ukrainians they had been proven invincible over “a year of pain, sorrow, faith and unity”.
The US has announced that it will offer over $10bn in assistance to Ukraine. The secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said that the funds are crucial to Ukraine and ensure that the Ukrainian government can continue to meet “the critical needs of its citizens, including healthcare, education and emergency services”.
Washington has also announced an additional package of security assistance for Ukraine. In a statement, the Biden administration said it would include “several new unmanned aerial systems (UAS), counter-unmanned aerial systems (C-UAS) equipment to strengthen Ukraine’s air defences … and electronic warfare detection equipment to bolster Ukraine’s ability to repel Russia’s aggression”.
Sweden will send up to 10 Leopard tanks and anti-aircraft systems to Ukraine, the prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, and defence minister, Pål Jonson, said. “The Swedish tanks reinforce the Leopard 2 contribution that other European countries make. Coordination of support is ongoing with international partners donating Leopard 2 or other tanks,” the government said.
Canada will provide additional military support to Ukraine, prime minister, Justin Trudeau, announced. He said Canada will provide four additional Leopard 2 main battle tanks. The additional tanks will bring up the total number of tanks provided by Canada to eight.
The Group of Seven has announced a range of further economic, military and financial sanctions against Russia. It promised measures against Russian diamond exports, warning that third countries that help Russia evade sanctions would face “severe costs”. The G7 is understood to be setting up an “enforcement coordination mechanism” to stop evasion of its sanctions already imposed.
Zelenskiy has welcomed some elements of a Chinese proposal for a ceasefire in Russia’s war on Ukraine. China’s government called for peace talks while urging all parties to avoid nuclear escalation and end attacks on civilians. “China has shown its thoughts. I believe that the fact that China started talking about Ukraine is not bad,” Zelenskiy said.
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