Air strike warnings sounded across Ukraine on Friday as President Volodymyr Zelensky hosted EU leaders to discuss further sanctions on Russia and Ukraine’s chances of joining the European bloc.
The head of the European Union’s executive commission and the chairman of the EU-27 national leaders traveled to Kyiv to show support for Ukraine on February’s first anniversary. 24, 2022, an attack on his neighbor is approaching.
“Our commitment will not waver. We will also support you every step of the way on your journey to the EU,” EU Chairman Charles Michel tweeted on Friday morning under a photo of himself in a central Kyiv square. wrote
There were no immediate reports of fresh missile strikes following the airstrike warning.
Zelensky is calling for more punitive measures against Russia from the EU, although new sanctions he is preparing for the anniversary are set to meet his government’s demands.
Kyiv applied to join the bloc days after Russia invaded last year. The EU has accepted the request, although it has rejected calls by Ukraine for a fast track to membership while the country is at war.
“The EU will continue to support Ukraine and the Ukrainian people in their fight against Russia’s ongoing aggression,” Michel, Zelenskiy and Ursula van der Leyen, the head of the EU’s executive commission, said in a joint statement. A draft of which was seen. Advance by Reuters.
EU authorities have listed a number of entry requirements, ranging from political and economic stability to the adoption of various EU laws. This process is likely to take years.
“Some people want to speculate about the end game but the simple truth is that we are not there yet,” said an EU official.
Anti-corruption demands
EU officials said topics discussed Thursday included more arms, money and energy aid for Ukraine, better access for its products to EU markets, tougher sanctions on Moscow and a crackdown on Russian war crimes. Efforts to prosecute include.
The European Union will impose a ban on Russian refined oil products from Sunday, and on Friday EU ambassadors in Brussels aim to agree to limit prices of products worldwide when Western insurance and shipping companies are involved, so that Moscow’s ability to finance the war could be limited. A similar price cap on crude oil came into effect in December.
The Kremlin said the ban would unbalance global energy markets, but Moscow was working to mitigate its impact.
The Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported on Friday, citing official sources, that the German government has approved the delivery of stock Leopard 1 tanks to Ukraine and is in talks to buy back 15 Leopard tanks from Qatar.
The Leopard 1 is not as advanced as the Leopard 2 that Germany and other countries promised last week, but could be delivered sooner.
The European Union has called for more anti-corruption measures from Ukraine, which is believed to be rampant state corruption. Zielinski has made it clear that the Defense Ministry needs to come clean, announcing the firing of some officials and an investigation in the past two weeks.
Authorities are investigating two corruption cases involving top military officials, officials said Thursday. In addition, a criminal gang has been arrested suspected of embezzling state funds by selling eggs and other food items to defense personnel at inflated prices, the State Bureau of Investigation said.
Authorities this week raided the homes of Ukraine’s top billionaire and a former interior minister, and announced a multibillion-dollar fraud investigation at the country’s largest oil company and refinery.
Eastern battlefield
Russia is increasing pressure on Ukrainian forces in eastern Ukraine, where Kyiv says Moscow is killing thousands of soldiers and mercenaries for little gain.
“They bring in men from their draft and systematically try to find places to break through our defenses,” Serhii Cheriyoti, a spokesman for the Eastern Front of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, told Radio NV of Ukraine. “The goal is to fulfill the leadership’s goal of taking control of all of Donetsk. But this plan has been going on for months now.
Moscow says a major Ukrainian goal is to secure the rest of Donetsk province, one of four it unilaterally annexed in September. Its forces have claimed increasing gains over the past week around the city of Bachmat, its main hub.
A Belarusian volunteer fighting for Ukraine inside the city said there was no sign yet that Ukrainian forces were planning to withdraw. “Right now it’s the opposite, the positions are being strengthened where the Russians are trying to cut us off. But everything depends on how the situation develops. We’re holding back for now. “
Reuters could not independently confirm the situation there.
Russia’s invasion force in Bakhmut has relied on Wagner’s fighters, a mercenary company that recruited thousands of Russian criminals from prisons with promises of amnesty. Britain’s Ministry of Defense said their numbers may be falling, citing figures showing a sharp drop in the number of prisoners leaving Russian prisons. There was no immediate reaction from the Kremlin to the report.
Ukraine’s military said late Thursday that Russian forces launched two strikes on the town of Kramatoruk in the Donetsk region, damaging buildings and killing some civilians.
Russia has denied targeting civilians in what Putin has described as a “special military operation” to protect Russian security, and Ukraine and its allies say it is an unprovoked land grab.