Live blog: Russia won't invade Poland? 'Zero credibility', says Warsaw

Friday, February 9, 2024

1605 GMT — Poland's defence minister has said that Russian leader Vladimir Putin had "zero credibility" despite denying any intent to invade Poland amid Moscow's two-year assault on neighbouring Ukraine.

"Nothing can make us let down our guard... and such words certainly do not cause this, on the contrary," Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz told reporters.

"The more someone repeats that something is not planned, the more suspicious you must be, especially with such words," said Kosiniak-Kamysz, who is also Poland's deputy prime minister.

In an interview released on Thursday with US journalist Tucker Carlson, Putin said it was "out of the question" for Russia to invade Poland or Latvia.

1735 GMT — Scholz, Biden to hold Ukraine aid talks amid Senate impasse

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged the US Congress to approve a long-delayed, multi-billion-dollar aid package for Ukraine's military ahead of a White House meeting with President Joe Biden.

"Without US help, the situation in Ukraine would be very complicated," he told a press conference, urging Congress to act "very soon."

1724 GMT — Ukraine says Russian strike kills three, injures four

Ukraine said a Russian strike on the northeastern region of Sumy killed three people and wounded four others.

Ukraine's interior minister, Igor Klymenko, said the victims were in a village "workshop of an agriculture firm" that was hit.

Klymenko said Russia launched seven guided bombs in the Sumy district.

1639 GMT — Ukrainians praise ousted army chief, voice fears over successor

The dismissal of Ukraine's popular army chief Valery Zaluzhny spread anger and dismay across the war-torn country -- from the streets of Kiev to the frontline.

"I'm honestly shocked and I'm not the only one," a 46-year-old soldier, speaking anonymously from the frontline Donetsk region, said.

Olga Krut, a 33-year-old on maternity leave in Kiev, said Zaluzhny "is the only person who really thought about Ukraine".

1613 GMT — In Kiev, bipartisan US Congress delegation vows to get Ukraine aid through

A bipartisan delegation of US Congress members came to Kiev to meet with Ukraine's president as they sought to give assurances they would do their part to get crucial, stalled military aid legislation through the House of Representatives.

The delegation consisted of four members of the House Intelligence Committee: Republicans Mike Turner and French Hill, along with Democrats Jason Crow and Abigail Spanberger.

"The United States is working diligently in the House of Representatives and the Senate to secure the funding that is necessary in 2024," Turner said.

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1018 GMT — Ukraine's military chief says success contingent on innovation

Ukraine's new armed forces chief said that Ukraine's path to victory in the war against Russia was contingent on constant innovation in the way it fights the war, singling out technological elements like drones and electronic warfare.

In a statement posted on Telegram, Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi also promised to protect the lives and health of Ukrainian service personnel, as well as ensure reliable logistics.

1005 GMT — Moscow calls Ukraine's new Russian-born army chief a traitor, says he won't win

Senior Russian security official Dmitry Medvedev said Ukraine's new Russian-born army chief was a traitor, while the Kremlin said the appointment would not alter the outcome of what Russia calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine.

"Looking at the biography of the new commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces Syrskyi one feels a sense of hatred, contempt, and disgust," Medvedev wrote on his official Telegram channel.

"Disgust for a man who was a Soviet Russian officer, but became a Bandera traitor, who broke his oath and serves the Nazis, destroying his loved ones. May the earth burn under his feet!" said Medvedev.

Separately, the Kremlin said it did not believe that a change at the top of Ukraine's military leadership would alter the outcome of the conflict.

0943 GMT — Ukrainian drones attack two oil refineries in southern Russia - source

Ukrainian drones attacked the Ilsky oil refinery in Russia's southern Krasnodar region, causing a large fire at the site in an operation conducted by the SBU security service, a Ukrainian source told Reuters.

The source who declined to be identified said SBU drones had also attacked Russia's nearby Afipsky oil refinery, but that the results of the operation were still being clarified.

Regional authorities in Russia said earlier that a fire had broken out at the Ilsky oil refinery and had been extinguished in around two hours. It gave no details of what caused the fire or its impact on the refinery's output.

0931 GMT — Kremlin, commenting on purported Mariupol death toll, accuses Ukraine of many civilian deaths

The Kremlin said it had not yet reviewed an assessment by Human Rights Watch on how many people had been killed in the city of Mariupol but accused Ukrainian forces of being responsible for many civilian deaths there.

At least 8,000 people were killed by fighting or war-related causes in Russia's months-long conquest of Mariupol, one of the biggest battles of the nearly two-year war between Russia and Ukraine, according to Human Rights Watch.

Commenting on the report, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused Ukrainian forces of using civilians in Mariupol as human shields and of shooting them in the back.

"We have not yet had time to familiarise ourselves with it (the report) and do not know how reliable this information can be considered," Peskov told reporters on a conference call.

"But we do know that a great many civilians died at the hands of the neo-Nazis who were trying to defend Mariupol at that time. They used civilians as human shields, shot them in the back. This we know and it is known for sure," added Peskov.

He did not refer to evidence that would back up his assertion, which has previously been denied by Kiev.

0836 GMT — Russia and Kiev fire 35 drones overnight

Russia and Ukraine fired a total 35 drones at each other overnight, the two countries' militaries said, as both sides wage nightly attempts to strike targets behind the static frontline.

Russia's military shot down 19 Ukrainian drones over four different regions and the Black Sea, the defence ministry said, while Ukraine said it shot down 10 of 16 drones Russia fired.

Russia's defence ministry said its "air defences had intercepted and destroyed drones in the regions of Kursk (2), Bryansk (5), Oryol (4), Krasnodar (2) and over the Black Sea (6)."

0712 GMT — UAE says mediation efforts led to Russia, Ukraine swap of 100 prisoners each

The United Arab Emirates said it succeeded in mediating the release of 100 Russian prisoners of war in exchange for 100 war prisoners from the Ukrainian side.

Russia's Defence Ministry, in a post on the Telegram messaging app, noted the UAE's "humanitarian mediation", as did Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian body overseeing exchanges of POWs.

The UAE's foreign ministry said it is the third mediation effort between Russia and Ukraine this year adding that it is calling for diplomacy, dialogue, and de-escalation, state news agency WAM reported.

0607 GMT — Ukraine says air force shoots down 10 out of 16 Russian drones overnight

Russia launched 16 drones at Ukraine overnight with air defences destroying 10 of them, the Ukrainian military said.

Ukrainian civilian authorities said drones damaged "exclusively civilian infrastructure" in the eastern Kharkiv region, injuring one person.

Reuters news agency could not independently verify the Ukrainian Air Force's report. There was no immediate comment from Russia.

0303 GMT — Russia says its forces are largely successful in Ukraine: Interfax

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said that Russian forces were successful in most areas of fighting in Ukraine and called for deeper and more active reconnaissance operations, the Interfax news agency cited the defence ministry as saying.

It said Shoigu spoke at a meeting with the commanders of the "West" army group, where he appeared alongside general staff chief Valery Gerasimov.

0036 GMT — Russia, Ukraine will agree 'sooner or later': Putin

Putin commented on the situation in Ukraine, saying that Moscow and Kiev will agree "sooner or later," reiterating that Russia “has never refused negotiations.”

“Sooner or later, we will come to an agreement anyway. And you know what? It may even sound strange in today’s situation, but relations between the peoples will be restored anyway. It will take a lot of time, but they will be restored,” Putin said during an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in Moscow.

Saying that what is happening on the front lines between Russian and Ukrainian forces is, to some extent, an "element of civil war,” Putin noted that everyone in the West thinks the fighting in Ukraine has forever pulled one part of the Russian people apart from another, but “reunification will happen.”

Putin went on to say that the US needs to stop the supply of weapons to Ukraine if it wants to stop the conflict, adding that this will "end everything within a few weeks."

2342 GMT — Defeating Russia in Ukraine is 'impossible' — Putin

Defeating Russia in Ukraine is "impossible", and NATO must accept Moscow's territorial gains there, President Vladimir Putin told US talk show host Tucker Carlson in an interview.

"There has been the uproar and screaming about inflicting a strategic defeat to Russia on the battlefield," Putin said. "In my opinion, it is impossible by definition. It is never going to happen."

In the same interview, Putin brushed off the possibility of going to war with Poland or Latvia.

"Can you imagine a scenario where you send Russian troops to Poland?" Carlson asked in the interview.

"Only in one case, if Poland attacks Russia," Putin responded, adding: "We have no interest in Poland, Latvia or anywhere else. Why would we do that? We simply don't have any interest... It is absolutely out of the question."

2315 GMT — US Senate votes to begin working on a last-ditch effort to approve funds for Ukraine

Overcoming a week of setbacks, the Senate voted to begin work on a package of wartime funding for Ukraine, Israel and other US allies. But doubts remained about support from Republicans who earlier rejected a carefully negotiated compromise that also included border enforcement policies.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called the latest vote a "good first step" and pledged that the Senate would "keep working on this bill — until the job is done."

The 67-32 vote was the first meaningful step Congress has taken in months to approve Ukraine aid, but it still faces a difficult path to final passage.

For our live updates from Thursday, February 8, click here.