Live blog: Netherlands signs decade-long security deal with Ukraine

Friday, March 1, 2024

1714 GMT –– Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte signed a security deal with Ukraine in the northeastern city of Kharkiv and said the Netherlands would help fund the supply of 800,000 artillery shells to hold back Russian forces.

Rutte met President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a surprise visit to Kharkiv, just 40 km (26 miles) from the Russian border, and became the seventh Western leader to sign a 10-year security agreement with Ukraine in the last two months.

"The Netherlands will contribute to the Czech Republic's initiative to purchase 800,000 artillery shells," he told a news conference, saying they would arrive within weeks.

Ukraine is critically short of artillery rounds as its troops try to hold back Russian forces who are again on the offensive in the east, two years after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion.

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1654 GMT –– Biden, Italy's Meloni to hold talks on Ukraine

President Joe Biden is hosting Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni for talks at the White House as the Democratic US leader struggles to persuade House Republicans to pass legislation that would replenish aid to Ukraine and as both leaders face political headwinds at home.

Biden has sought to assure European leaders that the US remains behind Ukraine even as he's been unable to win passage of a supplemental foreign aid package that includes $60 billion for Ukraine in addition to $35 billion for Israel and Taiwan. The legislation has passed the Senate, but Republican Speaker Mike Johnson has refused to put it up for a vote in the House.

Ahead of Meloni's visit, White House officials said they don't have good answers for allies about finding an end to the impasse with House Republicans and reopening the American spigot of aid to Kiev that's badly needed as Ukraine tries to fend off Russia's invasion.

"It's obviously having a demonstrable impact not just on our national security but the security of allies and partners around the world," White House spokesperson Olivia Dalton said.

1634 GMT –– Germany’s Scholz stands firm in opposition to sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reiterated his opposition to supplying Ukraine with long-range Taurus missiles and warned that this could lead to a direct conflict between Russia and NATO.

The Social Democrat politician faces criticism from the main opposition Christian Democrats, who accuse the chancellor of making a great mistake, and “playing into the hands of” Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"I want to say once again that I will not support any decision that results in German soldiers somehow becoming involved in a military operation in connection with Russia's terrible war against Ukraine," Scholz told reporters.

"Because we must prevent an escalation and a war between Russia and NATO," he added.

1541 GMT –– US defence chief's remarks on confrontation with Russia 'Freudian slip': Lavrov

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's remarks on possible confrontation if Ukraine fails in the war with Moscow a "Freudian slip of tongue."

"It is a like a Freudian slip of tongue, so, he’s saying what they were thinking," Lavrov said at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Türkiye.

"Before that everyone said that we cannot allow Ukraine to lose, because Putin wouldn’t stop at that and would invade Poland, Finland … and now we hear someone openly saying, Secretary Austin openly saying that we do not have these plans, so it’s the other way round and Americans have those plans, because they feel how Europeans is drifting away from them."

The Russian minister said Europe is the main victim of the policy of trying to drag Ukraine into NATO.

1257 GMT –– Ending Russia-Ukraine war demands change of European, US leadership, says Hungary

Europe and the US need a change in leadership for the Russia-Ukraine war to end, Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said.

"Let the politicians come again. Let diplomacy come, let there be a ceasefire, and let there be peace talks. This requires a European parliamentary election and in America a presidential election.

"If there is a new hand , then the new European institutional leaders coming in after a pro-peace European elections and (former US President) Donald Trump emerging victorious in America can create peace together, basically, with an American initiative," Orban said Thursday in a weekly radio-broadcast briefing.

According to Orban, Western leaders are stuck in an unwinnable war and will eventually have to accept that no military solution exists between Russia and Ukraine.

"Westerners got their feet stuck in this pit. They stepped in it and can't pull their foot out. The public will sort that out. After all, taxpayers will ask after a while, 'Why my dear friend, are you sending money to a war where the one you support has no chance of winning?'"

"That moment will come and then, the leaders of Western Europe will have no choice but to come up with some reason and say that there is now no chance for a military solution," said Orban.

0951 GMT –– Russia ready to hand over crash victims' bodies to Ukraine: official

Russia is ready to hand over the bodies of the victims of a January military plane crash to Ukraine, the RIA news agency cited Russian human rights official Tatyana Moskalkova as saying.

Moscow accuses Kiev of downing the Ilyushin Il-76 plane in Russia's Belgorod region and killing 74 people on board, including 65 captured Ukrainian soldiers en route to being swapped for Russian prisoners of war. It has not presented evidence.

Ukraine has neither confirmed nor denied that it shot down the plane and has challenged Moscow's account of who was on board and what happened.

Moskalkova said she was in touch with Ukrainian officials regarding the matter of the bodies.

0046 GMT — Russia calls US 'aggressor' in response to Pentagon chief's remarks

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has called the US an "aggressor" after its defence secretary suggested that a military confrontation between Russia and NATO is possible if Ukraine is defeated.

Speaking at a hearing of the US House Armed Services Committee, Lloyd Austin warned that if Ukraine falls, Russia and NATO could come into a direct military conflict.

"Quite frankly, if Ukraine falls, I really believe that NATO will be in a fight with Russia," he said. In a statement on Telegram, Zakharova said that now everyone sees who the "aggressor" is and questioned whether Austin is threatening Russia.

"Is this a direct threat to Russia or an attempt to come up with an excuse for [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy? Both are crazy. But now everyone can see who the aggressor is — Washington," she said.

0028 GMT — Russia says Ukraine is home to over 12 CIA bases

Russia has claimed there are more bases of the US Central Intelligence Agency [CIA] in Ukraine than recent media reports claim.

Commenting in an interview with Russia's Pervy TV channel on media reports claiming the CIA has built 12 "secret spy bases" along the Russian border in Ukraine that act as the "nerve centre" of Kiev's military, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, "it is not a secret."

"There are for sure not 12 CIA bases, but many more. It's not a secret, and we all know it perfectly well. We are the enemy of the CIA… We are opponents to them. They are working against us," he said.

Peskov noted that Russia's intelligence services are taking the necessary counter-actions.

2300 GMT — Ukraine repels Russian attacks but situation is difficult: top general

Ukrainian forces have pushed back Russian troops from the village of Orlivka, west of Avdiivka, but the situation on the eastern front remains difficult, Ukrainian army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said.

Ukraine's military said this week it had withdrawn from two more villages near Avdiivka, losing more territory as support from its Western allies runs short.

"The enemy continues active offensive actions in many areas of the front line. The situation is particularly tense in the Avdiivka and Zaporizhzhia sectors," Syrskyi said on the Telegram messaging app.

He said Russian assault units were trying to break through the Ukrainian defences and capture the settlements of Tonenke, Orlivka, Semenivka, Berdychi and Krasnohorivka.

A Ukrainian commander in the area described a "significant difference" in fighting since Avdiivka changed hands.

"Russians have slightly fewer opportunities to engage aviation. But artillery and FPV (First Person View) drones are used in large quantities," Maksym Zhorin, deputy commander of the Third Separate Assault Brigade, wrote on Telegram.

For our live updates from Thursday, February 29, click here.