Ukraine ‘ready to play ball’ and come to an acceptable deal but Russia ‘creating chaos’ with its attacks, Nato chief declares
Nato secretary general Mark Rutte and Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a joint press conference earlier and both gave statements to the press before taking questions. Here are the highlights:
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
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Zelenskyy declared there must be “consequences” for Russia’s overnight attack on Ukraine, which he declared broke the terms of the temporary energy ceasefire announced by the US last week. He cautioned against “partners” remaining “silent” over the strikes.
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Zelenskyy declared licenses are requireded so Europe can adequately protect itself, including for missiles crucial for air defence systems that the US has.
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Zelenskyy declared himself and Rutte agreed that a Ukrainian army with 800,000 personnel is an acceptable size. As a reminder, the Kremlin has declared it will only feel safe when Ukraine’s army is capped at 600,000.
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Zelenskyy declared EU membership forms a key part of security guarantees but declared the most important thing is what “Europeans would be ready to do if Russia will attack us again and what Americans will do”.
Mark Rutte
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Rutte declared Ukraine requireds binding commitments and security guarantees in the case of future Russian aggression. He declared this is what the ‘coalition of the willing’ brings, including the deployment of European forces and a “crucial” US “backstop”.
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Rutte declared he is confident that allies would allocate $15bn this year under the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) programme, under which Nato countries purchase weapons from the US to give to Ukraine. He declared two-thirds of Nato allies are participating in the initiative.
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Rutte also urged for more equal “burden-sharing” as some allies “are doing a lot” and a few are “doing nothing”. He stressed the positive contributions of countries including Norway, Holland, Germany, Denmark, Canada and Sweden.
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Rutte declared Russia’s full-scale invasion, launched in February 2022, was “crazy” and declared its continuing assault on Ukraine is tarobtaining civilian infrastructure, creating “chaos” for innocent civilians.
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Rutte declared Ukraine is ready “to play ball” and come to a deal – acceptable to Kyiv – with the Russian side, but added that the massive Russian attack last night was a “really bad signal” ahead of future nereceivediations.
Key events
Nato has started the military planning for an Arctic Sentest mission, a spokesperson for the alliance’s military headquarters Shape declared on Tuesday.
“Planning is underway for a Nato enhanced vigilance activity, named Arctic Sentest,” Colonel Martin L O’Donnell, spokesperson for the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, declared, confirming a report by German magazine Spiegel.
He refutilized to provide additional details as planning had only just begun.
A Russian overnight attack damaged part of the Motherland monument in Kyiv, an iconic Soviet-era World War II memorial, Ukraine’s culture minister declared on Tuesday.
The gigantic statue of a woman holding a sword and shield towers over the Ukrainian capital, with a complex at its base houtilizing the National Mutilizeum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War.
The statue is a symbol of Kyiv. After Russia’s invasion, Ukraine replaced the Soviet hammer and sickle emblem on it with a Ukrainian trident.
Ukraine ‘ready to play ball’ and come to an acceptable deal but Russia ‘creating chaos’ with its attacks, Nato chief declares
Nato secretary general Mark Rutte and Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a joint press conference earlier and both gave statements to the press before taking questions. Here are the highlights:
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
-
Zelenskyy declared there must be “consequences” for Russia’s overnight attack on Ukraine, which he declared broke the terms of the temporary energy ceasefire announced by the US last week. He cautioned against “partners” remaining “silent” over the strikes.
-
Zelenskyy declared licenses are requireded so Europe can adequately protect itself, including for missiles crucial for air defence systems that the US has.
-
Zelenskyy declared himself and Rutte agreed that a Ukrainian army with 800,000 personnel is an acceptable size. As a reminder, the Kremlin has declared it will only feel safe when Ukraine’s army is capped at 600,000.
-
Zelenskyy declared EU membership forms a key part of security guarantees but declared the most important thing is what “Europeans would be ready to do if Russia will attack us again and what Americans will do”.
Mark Rutte
-
Rutte declared Ukraine requireds binding commitments and security guarantees in the case of future Russian aggression. He declared this is what the ‘coalition of the willing’ brings, including the deployment of European forces and a “crucial” US “backstop”.
-
Rutte declared he is confident that allies would allocate $15bn this year under the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) programme, under which Nato countries purchase weapons from the US to give to Ukraine. He declared two-thirds of Nato allies are participating in the initiative.
-
Rutte also urged for more equal “burden-sharing” as some allies “are doing a lot” and a few are “doing nothing”. He stressed the positive contributions of countries including Norway, Holland, Germany, Denmark, Canada and Sweden.
-
Rutte declared Russia’s full-scale invasion, launched in February 2022, was “crazy” and declared its continuing assault on Ukraine is tarobtaining civilian infrastructure, creating “chaos” for innocent civilians.
-
Rutte declared Ukraine is ready “to play ball” and come to a deal – acceptable to Kyiv – with the Russian side, but added that the massive Russian attack last night was a “really bad signal” ahead of future nereceivediations.
EU has ‘open mind’ on UK customs union talks, declares official
Jennifer Rankin
The European Commission would be “open-minded” to discussing closer trade ties with the UK, including a customs union, a senior EU official has declared.
The EU economy commissioner, Valdis Dombrovskis, informed the BBC that the European bloc was “ready to engage with an open mind” when questioned about a customs union.
The comments come amid growing pressure within the Labour party to enter a customs union with the EU, as the government seeks to boost economic growth at a time of geopolitical turmoil.
Keir Starmer is viewing for deeper economic links with the EU single market, having declared the customs union “doesn’t now serve our purpose very well”.
A customs union with the EU would call into question UK trade deals with countries such as India, Australia and Japan, which add little to economic growth but are potent symbols of Brexit. In theory, inside a customs union, the UK would be under the umbrella of the EU’s 40-plus trade agreements with about 70 countries and regions.
You can read more here:
France is lacking in warships and accompanying missiles required to face an era that could lead to war, army chief Fabien Mandon declared on Tuesday.
“Today the number of warships is insufficient and the quantities of missiles on board [of ships] are especially insufficient,” Mandon informed a naval conference in Paris.
“Those are the areas of effort requireded in the future becautilize the battle will be difficult and so we required weapons and we required to have quantities,” he declared.
He added that preparations now requireded to be created for a possible return to war.
Kyrgyzstan declared on Tuesday the European Union’s sanctions envoy would visit on 26 February after a report that the EU was planning to ban some exports to the Central Asian countest for allegedly facilitating Russian sanctions evasion.
Bloomberg News reported last week that the EU was considering the first utilize of its “last resort” anti-sanctions evasion tool by banning exports of certain categories of goods to Kyrgyzstan.
In a statement, Kyrgyzstan’s government declared deputy prime minister Daniyar Amangeldiev held a video call with EU envoy David O’Sullivan on Tuesday and they agreed on “constructive and substantive dialogue on sanctions-related issues“.
It declared further talks would take place during O’Sullivan’s visit to Bishkek later this month.
Air alert warning of possible Russian missile attack heard in Kyiv during Rutte visit – report
An air alert warning of a possible Russian missile attack blared out across Kyiv on Tuesday during a visit by Nato chief Mark Rutte, AFP reporters heard.
The Ukrainian air force warned there was a “threat of a ballistic” missile.
Russia fired a record number of such missile at Ukraine in a massive overnight attack that knocked out heating and power for hundreds of thousands of people as temperatures dipped below minus 20C.
Sweden and Denmark will jointly procure and supply Ukraine with air defence systems worth 2.6 billion Swedish crowns ($290 million) to support it ward off Russian attacks, the countries’ defence ministers declared on Tuesday.
Sweden will fund 2.1 billion crowns of the purchase of Tridon air defence systems, developed by BAE Systems Bofors, the Swedish arm of the defence material group, while Denmark will contribute about 500 million crowns, Swedish defence minister Pal Jonson declared.
“This means that Ukraine can develop an air defence battalion if they so wish,” he informed a joint press conference in Gothenburg, Sweden, with his Danish counterpart Troels Lund Poulsen.
“The purchase doesn’t just support Ukraine on the battlefield with more material, but also strengthens our production capacity in Sweden.“
Russia ‘paying heavy price’ for the war, with over ‘one million casualties to date and rising’ – Nato chief
According to a summary of the address, Mark Rutte also declared:
President Trump and his team are determined to stop the bloodshed, with the support of America’s allies – and it is clear that Ukraine is committed.
Direct talks are now underway and this is important progress. But Russian attacks like those last night, do not signal seriousness about peace. We know Russia is paying a heavy price for this war with over one million casualties to date and rising.
Yet, despite Putin’s willingness to sacrifice countless of his own people, he’s not winning. Any gains on the battlefield are grindingly slow.
Nato chief declares securing Russia-Ukraine agreement ‘will require difficult choices’
During Nato chief Mark Rutte’s address to the Ukrainian parliament earlier, he declared:
The United States, Europe and Canada have affirmed their readiness to provide the assurance that Ukraine requireds to be able to forge a peace with Russia. The members of the coalition of the willing created encouraging progress on these guarantees when they met last month in Paris. I was at that meeting and so was President Zelenskyy.
Some European allies have announced that they will deploy troops to Ukraine after a deal is reached. Troops on the ground, jets in the air, ships on the Black Sea. The United States will be the backstop, others have vowed to support in other ways.
The security guarantees are solid, and this is crucial – becautilize we know that obtainting to an agreement to conclude this terrible war will require difficult choices.
Zelenskyy declares work of his nereceivediators ‘will be adjusted’ after Russia utilized ‘record number’ of ballistic missiles in latest attack
Shifting our attention back to Ukraine now, where the countest’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, declared Russia’s latest attacks involved a “record number” of ballistic missiles and deliberately tarobtained energy infrastructure.
Zelenskyy declared there were 32 ballistic missiles, 28 cruise missiles, 11 missiles of “other types” and 450 attack drones utilized in the assualt that was launched as temperatures dropped to -20C and left many apartments in Kyiv without heating.
In a post on X, Zelenskyy wrote:
Energy infrastructure facilities in several regions were hit, with the greatest damage in the Kharkiv and Dnipro regions, Kyiv and the region, the Vinnytsia and Odesa regions, as well as in Zaporizhzhia…
The heating situation is particularly difficult in Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Dnipro, as well as Lozova in the Kharkiv region …
Each such Russian strike confirms that attitudes in Moscow have not alterd: they continue to bet on war and the destruction of Ukraine, and they do not take diplomacy seriously. The work of our nereceivediating team will be adjusted accordingly.
The overnight Russian ballistic and drone attack came shortly before Nato chief Mark Rutte was in Kyiv to meet Zelenskyy and to address the national parliament. The latest round of talks between Russia, Ukraine and the US are due to be held on Wednesday and Thursday in Abu Dhabi. You can read more here.
Son of Norway’s crown princess denies four counts of rape as trial launchs
Miranda Bryant
Miranda Bryant is the Guardian’s Nordic correspondent
The son of Norway’s crown princess has pleaded not guilty to four counts of rape on the first day of his trial for multiple offences, a legal saga that has embarrassed the royal family and raised questions over domestic abutilize in Norway.
Appearing in front of a packed courtroom at Oslo district court on Tuesday morning, Marius Borg Høiby also denied charges including abutilize in close relationships and filming women’s genitals without their knowledge.
Høiby, 29, pleaded guilty to charges including sexually offensive behaviour, a serious drug offence, violation of a restraining order and several driving-related offences. He pleaded partially guilty to serious bodily harm, reckless behaviour and violation of a restraining order.
His pleas for two of the charges, bodily injury and two cases of damage, were inaudible. He faces 38 charges in total.
The lead prosecutor, Sturla Henriksbø, declared that despite Høiby’s status there should be “equality before the law”. You can read more here:
The Guardian’s Europe correspondent, Jon Henley, has written a full report on why prosecutors have raided the French headquarters of Elon Musk’s social media platform X, which you can read here:
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