Russia-Ukraine updates: Finland to stick with Sweden in NATO bid

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has rejected fierce criticism from Ukrainian officials, who have accused it of promoting war after the body said Russians could potentially be given the opportunity to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak at the weekend described the Lausanne-based body as promoting “violence, mass murders, destruction” and said a Russian presence at the games would constitute giving the country “a platform to promote genocide”.

“The IOC rejects in the strongest possible terms this and other defamatory statements,” the IOC said in a statement. “They cannot serve as a basis for any constructive discussion.”

In his nightly video address, President Zelenskyy pledged to “protect sports structures and the international Olympic movement from being discredited through the efforts of some representatives of sports bureaucracy to allow Russian athletes at international competitions”.

President Emmanuel Macron has said France doesn’t exclude sending fighter jets to Ukraine, but he has laid out multiple conditions before such a significant step might be taken.

France has sent Ukraine air defence systems, rocket launcher units, cannon and other military equipment and has pledged to send armored surveillance and combat vehicles, but it has stopped short of sending battle tanks or heavier weaponry.

Asked at a news conference in The Hague if France is considering sending warplanes, Macron said “nothing is excluded” as long as certain conditions are met.

The president said providing such equipment should not lead to an escalation of tensions, be used “to touch Russian soil” or “weaken the capacities of the French army”.

The Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Oleksii Makeiev, has stressed how important fighter jets are in the war against Russia.

“We have not yet asked Germany for fighter jets,” Makeiev told the broadcaster Deutsche Welle. But they are important, he said, because they are needed to shoot down Russian missiles.

“Russia fires many missiles at Ukrainian cities and infrastructure” and fighter jets are part of Ukraine’s efforts to defend its airspace, he said.

Ukraine has requested fighter jets, and the US has not yet ruled out their delivery.

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen says the Israeli embassy in Kyiv would return to full capacity in the coming weeks and he would soon be the first minister from the Middle East to visit the Ukrainian capital.

The embassy in Kyiv has not been fully open since Russia’s invasion started nearly a year ago. Israel closed it and then began periodically opening it beginning in June.

Cohen spoke at a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is on a visit to Israel.

Less than two months after the Russian government suppressed protests calling for opposition leader Alexey Navalny’s release, President Vladimir Putin ordered the deployment of a military force at Russia’s border with Ukraine in what became a prelude to the full-scale invasion of the country a year later.

A piece on our opinion page examines the links between these two themes – Russia’s internal instability and the war in Ukraine. Read more here.

The Ukrainian government has banned senior public servants and lawmakers from travelling abroad during the war with Russia.

Andriy Demchenko, spokesman for Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service, said the measure, adopted last week, had entered force.

“They can now only leave as part of a work mission,” he said.

Under the new measure, senior officials will only be able to travel abroad if they are visiting their children, receiving medical treatment or if a loved one dies, he said.

Norway will send part of its fleet of German-made Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine “as soon as possible”, perhaps by late March, its defence minister says.

Norway is among several European countries that promised last week to deliver the tanks long sought by Ukraine in its battle against Russian forces after Germany gave its blessing for the transfers despite fears of retaliation by Moscow.

Norway has 36 Leopard 2 tanks but has not said how many it will provide to Kyiv.

“We haven’t yet determined the number,” Defence Minister Bjorn Arild Gram told the AFP news agency.

“Of course, we hope this will be done as quickly as possible,” he said.

Croatia’s president has criticised Western nations for supplying Ukraine with heavy tanks and other weapons, saying such arms deliveries will only prolong the war.

“I am against sending any lethal arms there,” Zoran Milanovic told reporters in the Croatian capital.

“It prolongs the war,” he said, adding it was “mad” to believe that Russia could be defeated in a conventional war.

Read more here.

France and Australia have agreed to cooperate to manufacture “several thousands” of 155mm shells to help Ukraine, French defence minister Sebastien Lecornu says.

Lecornu announced the aid after he met with his Australian counterpart, Richard Marles, who said the “multimillion-dollar” project to provide the shells would help ensure Ukraine “is able to stay in this conflict and … see it concluded on its own terms”.

Tanks provided by the United Kingdom to Ukraine will be on the front line before summer, defence minister Ben Wallace says.

Asked in parliament when the 14 Challenger 2 tanks London has agreed to supply would be deployed onto the battlefield, Wallace said: “It’ll be this side of the summer or May. It’ll be probably towards Easter time.”

He said security reasons prevented him from setting out the timetable of training for Ukrainian forces on using the tanks but it would begin with instruction on the operation of individual vehicles before progressing to how to fight in formation.

The UK government said last week that its plan was for the Challenger 2 tanks to arrive in Ukraine by the end of March.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman have held talks by phone on cooperation within the OPEC+ group of oil-producing countries to maintain oil price stability, the Kremlin says.

The pair held the discussions as ministers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies led by Russia, a group known collectively as OPEC+, prepare to hold a virtual meeting on Wednesday.

Russian oil production has so far shown resilience in the face of Western sanctions imposed after Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in February and price caps introduced by Western countries in December.

Ukraine’s military will spend nearly $550m on drones this year, and 16 supply deals have already been signed with Ukrainian manufacturers, the defence minister says.

Both Ukrainian and Russian forces have used a wide array of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones, for attacks and reconnaissance during 11 months of war.

“In 2023, we are increasing the procurement of UAVs for the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Oleksii Reznikov said in a Facebook post.

Ukraine has received significant supplies of drones from its partners, from Turkey’s missile-equipped Bayraktar TB2 to the Norwegian-made Black Hornet reconnaissance drone, which weighs less than 33g. Kyiv is now seeking to boost domestic production to build what officials describe as an “army of drones”.

Liberation has not diminished the hardship for residents of Kalynivske, Ukraine, both those returning and the ones who never left.

Read more here.

Here are four maps we update daily, charting the latest developments of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Slovenian authorities have detained two men suspected of spying for the Russian military intelligence service, the Ljubljana-based Delo newspaper reported.

Delo said the detainees were members of the Russian military intelligence organisation GRU and had false identities.

The two had registered a real estate and antiques business in Ljubljana as a cover-up, with one holding Argentine citizenship, it added.

Last April, Slovenia expelled 33 Russians working in the country’s embassy following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine’s president says he met with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in the southern Ukrainian region of Mykolaiv and discussed the impact of Russian missile and drone strikes with regional officials.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post that he had “reviewed the state of the region’s energy infrastructure, the means of its protection and the pace of recovery” during his talks with regional authorities.

“We discussed the operational situation in the south of Ukraine, the consequences of Russia’s missile and drone attacks,” he said.

Finland’s foreign minister says it is maintaining its plan to join NATO at the same time as Nordic neighbour Sweden despite a potential Turkish block on the latter’s bid.

“Our strong wish is still to join NATO together with Sweden,” Pekka Haavisto told a news conference in Helsinki.

“I still see the NATO summit in Vilnius in July as an important milestone when I hope that both counties will be accepted as NATO members at the latest,” Haavisto said.

His remarks came after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signalled on Sunday that Ankara could agree to Finland joining NATO ahead of Sweden, amid growing tensions with Stockholm.

Last week, Turkey suspended NATO talks with Sweden and Finland over protests in Stockholm that included the burning of a Koran.

Poland’s prime minister has set out a plan to increase defence spending, saying the country needs to arm itself “faster” in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The country’s defence budget will amount to 4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) this year, Mateusz Morawiecki told reporters.

Poland’s military spending in 2022 equalled 2.4 percent of its GDP, the third highest percentage among NATO countries, according to figures from the transatlantic alliance.

Since the invasion of Ukraine in February, Russian-occupied territories there have experienced regular sabotage from the Ukrainian resistance.

But in Russia and Belarus, a secret network of activists is also doing its best to slow down the Russian war machine.

Read more here.

Russia has moved additional forces and equipment to its western Kursk region on the border with Ukraine, according to the region’s governor.

Roman Starovoit was quoted by Russia’s Interfax news agency as telling a regional government meeting that it was “necessary to provide comprehensive support for the reception, deployment and arrangement of additional forces” in the area.

Local authorities say Kursk has repeatedly been subjected to Ukrainian shelling since Russia invaded its neighbour almost a year ago.

Some of Russia’s troops entered from the Kursk region, although the areas of northeastern Ukraine that they seized have since been retaken by Kyiv’s forces.

Kyiv has repeatedly warned that Russia could make a new attempt to seize parts of northeastern Ukraine, pointing to increased joint military activity in Belarus.