Live blog: EU agrees to set aside $5.5B to fund arms for Ukraine

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

1732 GMT –– EU member states agreed to add $5.5 billion to a central fund to pay for weapons sent to Ukraine.

The move provides a welcome boost for Kiev as support from its other major backer, the United States, wavers and its outgunned forces struggle to hold back Russia.

Belgium, which holds the EU's rotating presidency, said ambassadors from the bloc's 27 nations had agreed "in principle" on the plan to support arms supplies to Kiev in 2024 with five billion euros.

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1620 GMT –– Russian nuclear weapons 'more advanced' than in US: Putin

President Vladimir Putin has lauded Moscow's nuclear arsenal and warned that he was ready to deploy the weapons if Russia's sovereignty was threatened.

Putin's latest comments come just days ahead of elections in Russia that are all but guaranteed to hand him another six years in power and as his military posts gains in Ukraine.

"Our triad, the nuclear triad, it is more modern than any other triad. Only we and the Americans actually have such triads. And we have advanced much more here," Putin said in a wide-ranging interview with state media.

"We are ready to use weapons, including any weapons –– including the weapons you mentioned –– if it is a question of the existence of the Russian state or damage to our sovereignty and independence," Putin added in the interview.

1539 GMT –– Ukraine troops will start to get artillery shells under Czech scheme by June

Outgunned Ukrainian troops fighting Russian forces will start to receive artillery rounds under a Czech-led initiative to boost supplies by June at the latest, a senior Czech official said.

"First deliveries from the so-called 'Czech ammunition initiative' can be expected in Ukraine in June at the latest," National Security Adviser Tomas Pojar told Reuters news agency.

The Czech confirmation on the timeline follows a comment on expected ammunition delivery in the "foreseeable future" from Kiev's top diplomat earlier. Prague located 800,000 artillery rounds in third countries earlier this year to supply to Ukraine and says it raised enough funding from allies to purchase a first batch of 300,000 on March 8.

"The Czech initiative is great but it's far from sufficient," Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told a news conference in Kiev. "If, besides the Czech initiative, two more initiatives are implemented this year ... the Russian troops in Ukraine will face more significant problems on the front line."

1510 GMT –– Russia warns Ukraine war could spin out of control

Russia has warned that the war in Ukraine could spin out of control and expand geographically due to the ill-considered actions of one or two member states from the NATO military alliance.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told reporters that the situation around Ukraine was becoming dangerous and that the risks were growing.

"As a result of the ill-considered provocative actions of even one or two EU or NATO member states, the Ukrainian crisis could absolutely go beyond its geographical borders, acquire a completely different scale and develop uncontrollably," Zakharova told a news briefing.

Zakharova said Moscow believed the West was now walking "on the edge of the abyss" and pushing the world to the edge too with its actions over Ukraine.

"Accordingly, the question today is how to avoid the risks of further escalation. They are obvious and frightening to all sensible people," Zakharova said, advising the West to give up on the idea of strategically defeating Russia and stop supporting Ukraine with money and weapons.

"The West will have to learn to reckon not only with its own geopolitical ambitions, but also with the legitimate interests of other countries," Zakharova said.

1449 GMT –– Ukraine's army chief says battlefield situation 'difficult'

Ukraine's army chief has said the situation on the battlefield was "difficult" and that Russian forces could be poised to strike deep into Ukrainian lines in the eastern Donetsk region.

Kiev's forces are on the defensive across the 1,000-kilometre (620-mile) front lines in the east and south after Moscow made its first territorial gains in almost a year.

Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky said he had visited two brigades "where the situation is gradually becoming more complicated and there is a threat of enemy units advancing deep into our battle formations".

"In general, the operational situation on the eastern front remains difficult. The enemy continues to conduct offensive actions," in a number of areas of the Donetsk region, Syrsky said in a post on Telegram. "At the same time, probably due to the high level of losses, the activity of the enemy in other areas of the front decreased significantly," he added, without elaborating.

1435 GMT –– Germany's Scholz defends his refusal to send Ukraine Taurus missiles

Chancellor Olaf Scholz defended his refusal to send Taurus long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine, telling German lawmakers that prudence is not a weakness while insisting that he trusts Kiev.

Germany has become the second-biggest supplier of military aid to Ukraine after the United States, but Scholz has stalled for months on Ukraine’s desire for Taurus missiles, which have a range of up to 500 kilometres (310 miles) and could in theory be used against targets far into Russian territory.

"From my point of view, this is a very long-range weapon,” he told parliament's lower house, the Bundestag. “Given the significance of not losing control over targets, this weapon could not be used without the deployment of German soldiers. I reject that."

0934 GMT — Spending boost will surpass NATO target: Denmark

Denmark has said it would raise its defence spending by $5.9B over five years to boost its military capacity, a hike that will take it past NATO's spending target.

"The government plans to increase defence spending by a total of 40.5 billion kroner between 2024 and 2028," the defence ministry wrote in a statement, putting the country's defense spending at 2.4 percent of GDP in 2024, over NATO's two percent target, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said.

0903 GMT — France, Germany and Poland to hold talks on Ukraine in Berlin

The leaders of France, Germany and Poland will hold emergency talks on Ukraine in Berlin on Friday, the Polish prime minister has announced following discussions on the war-torn country in Washington.

Poland, one of Ukraine's allies, has repeatedly urged its Western partners to up their spending on military aid as Kiev fends off a Russian invasion.

Poland's president and prime minister met with US President Joe Biden in Washington, shortly after the US leader announced an emergency stopgap package to Ukraine.

0657 GMT — Ukrainian drone attacks state security HQ in Russia’s Belgorod : TASS

A Ukrainian drone has attacked the building of Russia's FSB state security service in Russia's Belgorod, the TASS news agency cited local authorities as saying.

There were no casualties from the attack, it said, although the building has been damaged.

0639 GMT — 58 Ukrainian drones shot down overnight : Russia

Russia's defence ministry has said that 58 Ukrainian drones had been shot down overnight.

Drones were destroyed over Russia's Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Kursk, Ryazan, and Leningrad regions, it said in a statement

0638 GMT — Russian attacks on Ukraine’s eastern regions kill two: Kiev

At least two people were killed in overnight Russian drone and bomb attacks in Ukraine's eastern Sumy and Donetsk regions, local officials have said.

Russia dropped a bomb on Myrnohrad town in Donetsk region, killing two and injuring five people, local governor Vadym Filashkin said on Telegram messaging app.

The Sumy regional military administration said there were casualties as a result of a Russian drone hitting an apartment block overnight.

0540 GMT — Ukraine drone strike targets Russian oil refinery

A drone strike hit an oil refinery in southeast Russia's Ryazan region, wounding several people and causing a fire, the regional governor said.

"The Ryazan oil refinery was attacked by a drone," governor Pavel Malkov wrote on Telegram.

"According to preliminary information, there were injuries."

0244 GMT — Ukraine launches drone attacks on Russia for second night in a row

Ukraine launched drone attacks on several Russian regions for the second night in row, officials said, causing damage to a gas supply line and cutting off power to some villages in the Belgorod region.

"No one was injured," Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of the Belgorod region that borders Ukraine said on the Telegram messaging app.

Four Ukraine-launched drones were destroyed over the region and falling debris caused damage to a gas supply line in one village and cut off electricity to a couple of others, Gladkov added. Some houses were damaged in the town of Gubkin.

He also said the town of Shebekino came under fire from Ukrainian forces, injuring one man and damaging a power line in the town and nearby villages.

2341 GMT — Russian missile strike claims lives in Ukraine's Kryvyi Rih

A Russian missile strike in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's hometown of Kryvyi Rih left three dead and dozens wounded, in an attack Kiev warned would not go "unpunished".

Rescuers in Kryvyi Rih could be seen evacuating wounded civilians from a burning multi-storey residential building in a video published by Kiev's Interior Ministry.

"The Russian attack claimed the lives of three people," the governor of the central Dnipropetrovsk region, Sergiy Lysak, said on Telegram.

At least 44 people were injured, eight of whom were in serious condition, including three children, he added in a later post.

In his evening address, Zelenskyy said a nine-story residential building was hit and offered his condolences to those affected.

"We will inflict losses on the Russian state in response — quite rightly. They in the Kremlin must learn that terror does not go unpunished for them," he said.

2202 GMT — Ukraine's army chief, defence minister talk with US defence secretary on weapons delivery

Ukraine's army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said that he and Ukraine's Defence Minister Rustem Umerov held a phone call with US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin on weapons delivery to Ukraine.

"Medium-term and urgent needs were discussed," Syrskyi said on his Telegram messaging channel. "Among the key priorities remain ammunition, as well as air defence."

2145 GMT — House Democrats, centrist Republicans launch separate efforts to force vote on Ukraine aid

House Democrats and a small group of centrist Republicans launched separate long-shot efforts to force a vote on tens of billions of dollars in wartime aid for Ukraine, intensifying pressure on Speaker Mike Johnson to take up the foreign funding package.

Democrats, as the minority in the House, began gathering signatures to force a floor vote on the Senate's $95 billion package of aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan through a "discharge petition" — a seldom-successful procedural tool that can circumvent the speaker's control over which bills come up for a vote.

Shortly after, a group of Republicans launched their own signature drive for a proposal that would trim the package to $66 billion, mostly for military aid, and include border security provisions.

The moves underscored the stubborn impasse in Congress over the military aid for Ukraine, with conservatives baulking at providing more ammunition and weaponry for Kiev.

"We have made every single opportunity to engage with the speaker on bringing the bill to the floor as a bipartisan piece of legislation," said Representative Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee. "Why not just bring it to the floor? You know, it would win overwhelmingly."

2125 GMT — Thousands of lives in Ukraine depend on House speaker Johnson: Polish PM

The lives of thousands of people in Ukraine depend on Republican House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson calling a vote on a bill that would provide $60 billion more for Kiev, the Polish prime minister said during a visit to Washington.

"I hope that the voice from Poland, the voice from Europe will change the attitude of Mr Johnson," Donald Tusk told reporters.

"He must be aware... that the fate of millions of people depends on his individual decisions, and thousands of lives in Ukraine today and tomorrow depend on his decisions."

For our live updates from Tuesday, March 12, click here.