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Opening summary
Welcome back to our continuing coverage of the war in Ukraine. This is Helen Sullivan bringing you the latest.
Our top story this morning: Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, says that he he worries the war could be impacted by shifting political forces in Washington. In an interview with AP, published a short while ago, Zelenskiy said:
“The United States really understands that if they stop helping us, we will not win”.
And Russia began exercises with the Yars intercontinental ballistic missile system and several thousand troops, its defence ministry said on Wednesday, in what is likely to be seen as another attempt by Moscow to show off its nuclear strength.
We’ll have more on these stories shortly. In the meantime, here are the key recent developments.
The United States has not seen any indications that Vladimir Putin is getting closer to using tactical nuclear weapons in his war on Ukraine, after the Russian leader said he was moving such weapons into Belarus. Belarus confirmed it would host Russian tactical nuclear weapons, saying the decision was a response to years of western pressure. Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, said Belarus would face further EU sanctions.
Russia said it shot down a US-supplied GLSDB guided smart bomb fired by Ukrainian forces, the first time Moscow has claimed to have intercepted one of the weapons that could double Ukraine’s battlefield firing range.
Ukraine’s frontline city of Avdiivka “is being wiped off the face of the Earth” amid intensifying Russian shelling, according to its top local official. Russian forces have been making recent gradual gains on the flanks of Avdiivka, and the Ukrainian military said last week that the city could become a “second Bakhmut”. Russia’s 10th tank regiment has borne the brunt of the assault of Avdiivka and has likely lost a “large portion of its tanks” while attempting to surround the town from the south, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said in its latest intelligence update.
Ukraine is aiming to exhaust and inflict heavy losses on Russian forces trying to capture the small eastern city of Bakhmut, the commander of Ukrainian ground forces has said. In a video showing him addressing soldiers in what appeared to be a large industrial warehouse, Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi said Russia was continuing to focus on the Bakhmut area after months of battle.
Germany’s much-awaited shipment of 18 Leopard 2 battle tanks has arrived in Ukraine, the German defence ministry has confirmed. Berlin first promised 14 but increased that to 18 as part of a deal under which several EU states would contribute to a shipment of two Leopard 2 battalions and 31 American-made M1A2 Abrams tanks from the US.
The first British Challenger 2 main battle tanks have also arrived in Ukraine and will soon begin combat missions, Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, has said. The UK said in January it would send 14 of the tanks to Ukraine. Reznikov wrote on Twitter that the tanks had “recently arrived in our country” and posted a video that showed him sitting in one of a long line of tanks in an open field, all of them flying Ukraine’s yellow and blue flag.
The US supports the creation of a special tribunal to prosecute the crime of aggression against Ukraine, officials have said. The US ambassador-at-large for global criminal justice, Beth Van Schaak said the court might also be located elsewhere in Europe, at least at first, in order “to reinforce Ukraine’s desired European orientation”.
A Russian man who was investigated by police after his 12-year-old daughter drew a picture depicting Russian bombing a family in Ukraine has been sentenced to two years in a penal colony, according to a rights group. Alexei Moskalyov has been separated from his daughter Maria since he was placed under house arrest, and she was taken into a state-run shelter last month. Court officials said on Tuesday that the 54-year-old had fled house arrest and his whereabouts were unknown.
The International Olympic Committee has recommended that Russian and Belarusian athletes are allowed to compete in international sporting events under a neutral flag. A decision regarding next year’s Olympics in Paris and the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in 2026 would be taken “at the appropriate time”, it said. Germany’s interior minister, Nancy Faeser, said the committee’s decision was “a slap in the face for all Ukrainian athletes”.
English (US)