Live blog: NATO allies aim to deliver 1M drones to Ukraine — alliance chief

Thursday, February 15, 2024

1534 GMT — NATO member states are aiming to deliver one million drones to Ukraine, the defence alliance's secretary-general announced.

"A group of allies is coming together with a goal of delivering one million drones to Ukraine," Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference following the defence ministers' meeting in Brussels.

"We need to shift from the slow pace of peacetime to the high tempo production demanded by conflict," he added. "Twenty NATO allies have also agreed to form a demining coalition. All of this will help to save Ukrainian lives."

Stoltenberg recalled that in the past few days, allies including Canada, Finland, and Norway announced new packages of aid, "covering key capabilities like F-16 equipment and spare parts as well as air defence."

1755 GMT — France, Ukraine to sign security deal in Paris during Zelenskyy visit

French President Emmanuel Macron will sign a bilateral security agreement with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on Friday in Paris to provide "long-term support" to the war-ravaged country which has been battling Russia's full-scale offensive for nearly two years.

The French presidency said in a statement that Macron and Zelenskyy's bilateral meeting in the late afternoon will be followed by a news conference and a working dinner at the Elysee presidential palace. It did not release specific details about the agreement.

Macron said earlier this year that France was negotiating a bilateral deal on the model the one Ukraine recently agreed with the United Kingdom, which covers 10 years and provides a package worth around $3.2 billion) over the next fiscal year. It is the largest the UK has given to Ukraine since the war began.

1750 GMT — Biden to host feuding Polish leaders as Ukraine concerns mount

US President Joe Biden will host Poland's squabbling premier and president next month, the White House said, to shore up solidarity for Ukraine's fight against the Russian offensive.

The joint visit on March 12 will mark a rare bringing together of Poland's new Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who won elections in October, and President Andrzej Duda.

"The leaders will reaffirm their unwavering support for Ukraine's defence against Russia's brutal war of conquest," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.

1648 GMT — Ukraine reinforces 'critical' frontline town Avdiivka

Ukraine has rushed soldiers to the embattled eastern town of Avdiivka, surrounded on three sides by Russian forces, where the military said the situation was "extremely critical".

The announcement of reinforcements came as a Ukrainian rocket strike on the Russian border city of Belgorod killed at least six people, officials there said.

Both sides are escalating aerial attacks as the war nears the end of its second year. Ukraine's position around Avdiivka in the eastern Donetsk region has grown increasingly precarious.

1055 GMT — Attack on Russia's Belgorod kills five: governor

An air attack on the Russian city of Belgorod killed at least five people and wounded 18 others, the region's governor said.

Videos shared on social media showed a shattered storefront surrounded by debris, while a woman can be heard weeping in distress. One video showed a body covered with a blanket nearby.

"According to preliminary data, five people were killed in Belgorod, including one c hild, and another 18 people were injured, five of them children," governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

1034 GMT — NATO chief warns against dividing the US and Europe or undermining their joint nuclear deterrent

The head of NATO warned member countries against allowing a wedge to be driven between the United States and Europe, as concern grows about Washington’s commitment to its allies should Donald Trump return to office.

Faced with a war in Ukraine that is draining military and financial re sources, and with a US package of support held up by infighting in Congress, European leaders and senior officials have warned that Europe must invest more in its armies and new technologies and ramp up weapons production.

“I welcome that the European allies are investing more in defence, and NATO has called for that for many, many years,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters at the alliance's Brussels headquarters, where he was chairing a meeting of the organisation’s defence ministers.

“But that’s not an alternative to NATO. That is actually a way to strength NATO. And we should not pursue any path that indicates that we are trying to divide Europe from North America,” he said.

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0722 GMT — Delay in US aid hurting Ukraine — NATO chief

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said a delay in passing new US aid for Ukraine was already hurting Kiev's forces on the battlefield against Russia.

"We see the impact already of the fact that the US has not been able to make a decision, but I expect the US to be able to make a decision, that the Congress and the House of Representatives will agree continued support to Ukraine," Stoltenberg told journalists.

0937 GMT — Macron and Zelenskyy to sign security agreement at Elysee Palace

French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy plan to sign a bilateral security agreement at the Elysee Palace on Friday, the French presidency said.

"This agreement follows commitments made within the G7 format on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Vilnius in July 2023", Macron's office said.

At the time, NATO leaders did not set a timetable for Ukraine to join the bloc, but the G7 countries pledged to provide Ukraine with long-term security support.

0930 GMT — Zelenskyy plans meetings with Scholz and Macron in critical talks

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will travel to Germany and France on Friday for meetings with leaders Olaf Scholz and Emmanuel Macron, his office announced.

The visits to Ukraine's key European backers come at a critical time. With the war approaching the two-year mark, Kiev is seeking to unlock billions of dollars in Western aid to help its troops on the battlefield.

Zelenskyy will also address the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, where he will hold talks with US Vice President Kamala Harris, Kiev said. While there, he will also hold meetings with the leaders of the Czech Republic, Denmark, and the Netherlands.

0929 GMT — Polish and British foreign ministers call on the US Congress for Ukraine aid package

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has called during a joint press conference with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron for the US Congress to adopt an aid package for Ukraine.

Donald Trump's opposition to a Senate-approved $95.34 billion military aid package for Ukraine and Israel means that it may never be voted on in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

0825 GMT — Ukraine sends more troops to 'extremely critical' Avdiivka

Ukraine has sent more soldiers to the embattled eastern town of Avdiivka, an army unit said, describing the situation there as "extremely critical."

Russian forces have been storming the city in the eastern Donetsk region since last year and have it surrounded by three sides.

"The Third Separate Assault Brigade confirms that it was urgently redeployed to strengthen Ukrainian troops in the Avdiivka area," the brigade said in a post on its Telegram channel. "The situation in the city ... was extremely critical," it added.

0811 GMT — Russia fires 26 missiles at Ukraine, at least one dead

Russian forces fired 26 missiles at Ukraine overnight, killing at least one person and destroying multiple homes, Ukrainian officials said.

They added that air defences shot down 13 of them.

A 66-year-old woman was killed after two projectiles hit a residential area in the northeastern city of Chuguyiv, the prosecutor's office said.

0800 GMT — France to meet NATO 2% defence spending target by 2024

France is set to be among the NATO countries reaching a defence spending target of 2 percent of gross domestic product in 2024, France's defence minister said.

"France will meet the 2 percent target set on time, 2 percent of GDP by 2024," Sebastien Lecornu told journalists at a NATO meeting in Brussels.

0730 GMT — Rebuilding Ukraine like to cost $486B: World Bank

Rebuilding Ukraine's economy after Russia's offensive nearly two years ago is expected to cost $486 billion, 2.8 times its 2023 expected economic output, a new study by the World Bank, United Nations, European Commission and the Ukrainian government has found.

The estimate released Thursday covers the period from Russia's attack on February 24, 2022 through December 31, 2023 and quantifies the direct physical damage to buildings and other infrastructure, the impact on people's lives and livelihoods and the cost to "build back better," the World Bank said.

That 10-year cost estimate is up from $411 billion last March, with housing needs topping the list at $80 billion or 17 percent, followed by transport needs of $74 billion or 15 percent, and commerce and industry at $67.5 billion, or 14 percent.

"The $486 billion is an unfathomably large amount, and, of course, it reflects real needs," said Arup Banerji, World Bank regional country director for Eastern Europe, although he noted that the high rate of damages seen in the first months of the war had slowed sharply.

0658 GMT — Ukrainian drone attack sets Russian oil depot ablaze near the border

A night-time Ukrainian drone attack has set ablaze a Russian oil depot in the Kursk region near the frontier between the two countries, Russian authorities said.

Regional governor Roman Starovoit said on social media that there were no casualties, appealing to the local population to remain "calm."

"Following a Ukrainian drone attack in the Kursk region, fire has broken out in an oil depot," Starovoit said on Telegram.

0423 GMT — Ukraine engages to repel Russian missile attack on Kiev: Mayor

Ukrainian air defences have engaged in repelling a Russian missile attack on the capital Kiev, the city mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

Klitschko urged residents to stay in the shelters. Reuters witnesses reported several explosions in different parts of Kiev.

0200 GMT — Putin says he regrets not starting 'operation' in Ukraine sooner

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the only thing he regrets is that the "special military operation" in Ukraine did not start earlier.

Commenting on reactions in the West to his interview with US journalist Tucker Carlson in a televised show, Putin said it is good that Western politicians watched the interview but unfortunate that his words are being twisted.

"Where did I say that the beginning of the special operation is connected to the threat of NATO's aggression against Russia? I said that we were constantly deceived about the non-expansion of NATO to the East. (There have been) five expansions, (which is) a complete deception," he emphasised.

0051 GMT — Ukraine warns of incoming Russian bombers

Ukraine's military warned that a group of Russian bombers had taken off from a base in Russia, posing a threat of missile strikes.

"The takeoff of several Tu-95MS from Olenya airfield (Murmansk region, Russian Federation) was recorded," Ukraine's Air Force said in a Telegram post.

The air force had also reported the takeoff of the strategic bombers, which date back to the Soviet era, earlier this month and in January.

2332 GMT — US, EU discuss Russia sanctions ahead of Ukraine war's second anniversary

The US, EU and other partners discussed Russia sanctions at a meeting in Brussels this week ahead of the two-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine, which a senior US official said Washington and its allies are prepared to mark with "robust" sanctions.

"Many of us are prepared to roll out quite robust anniversary packages," the official told the Reuters news agency, but declined to provide details.

The new sanctions would come as the US and its allies look to maintain pressure on Russia, with US military aid to Ukraine increasingly in doubt.

President Joe Biden's administration has run out of money for Kiev, and a request for additional funds is languishing in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

For our live updates from Wednesday, February 14, click here.