• The war in Ukraine has reached its 356th day.
• According to Ukraine’s Health Ministry, Russian forces have bombed 540 hospitals since the invasion began.
• Russians bomb Kherson, woman killed.
• Weapons to Ukraine, ammunition such as vaccines: Estonia demands a unified European system for their procurement and production.
10:58 am – Peskov: “NATO is hostile to Russia and confirms this every day”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said during today’s press conference that “NATO is an anti-Russian organization and confirms this every day” through its involvement in the conflict in Ukraine. Ria Novosti reports it.
10:31 am – Putin’s secret train: The Russian President travels in armored trains for security reasons
(Marco Bruna) The Russian President Vladimir Putin has had a secret railway network built in the country with the appropriate stations to reach his places of residence: The message, which the independent press organ “Proekt Media” published on Telegram, follows yesterday’s report, according to which since Zu Beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian leader increasingly resorted to an armored personnel carrier for security reasons.
Read the full article here.
10:26 a.m. – Austin: «After a year we are more united than ever, the next few weeks are crucial. Kiev will win despite setbacks”
“One year after the start of the war that Vladimir Putin wanted, we are more united than ever and ready to support Ukraine in the difficult and crucial weeks ahead.” opened.
Commenting on the situation on the front lines, Austin said: “Despite some setbacks, Ukraine has shown that it will prevail in this war and that these setbacks will only be temporary: the Ramstein Group will support Kiev as long as necessary, we will do it.” give what we promised and we will ensure that the equipment is integrated into the battlefield”.
– US Secretary of State Lloyd Austin, left, and Ukraine’s new Defense Minister Kyrylo Budanov in Ramstein (Afp)
10:21 am – 007 Gb: Russians advance east, “non-decisive” advance
Although Russian forces are advancing on the various open fronts in the Donbass, and particularly towards the city of Bakhmut, which has been raging for weeks, the progress they are making is not decisive due to insufficient “offensive combat capability” on each axis. It is the assessment of UK Defense Intelligence set out in the latest update on the situation on the ground, released today. “Over the past three days, Wagner Group forces have almost certainly made further small gains around the northern outskirts of the disputed town of Bakhmut” and in particular “the village of Krasna Gora”. But «the organized Ukrainian defense continues to fight in the area. The Russian tactical push south of the city has probably made little progress.’
10:04 a.m. – Borrell: “Buy ammunition for Ukraine with the Epf”
“With the European Peace Facility, which is an intergovernmental fund, we are already giving EU member states funds to buy arms for Ukraine. At the moment we are doing this state by state, but the EPF can certainly be used to buy ammunition for Ukraine in a coordinated way, I will make proposals on this to the EU foreign ministers next week. This was stated by the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Defense Policy, Josep Borrell, when he arrived at NATO headquarters for the Ramstein format meeting.
– A Ukrainian rocket launcher on the front in Donetsk (AP)
9:56 a.m. – Stoltenberg: “NATO is not part of this war”
“As allies, we support Ukraine, but neither NATO nor NATO’s allies are part of this war,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said upon arrival at headquarters. “The nature of support has evolved, as has the war. Ukraine defends itself: This is a war of aggression, Russia attacked a sovereign and independent nation in Europe, and of course Ukraine has the right to defend itself. We support Ukraine in its right to self-defense.”
09:14 – Sirens in Kiev, alarms across the country
The alarm siren sounded again this morning in Kiev. The alert is still ongoing and the air alert covers the entire territory of Ukraine, indicating possible activity of enemy strategic aviation.
09:12 – Salvini: «Cav? No comment, but politics has a clear sign”
“I will not comment, everyone is free to make their own statements”: This is how Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, secretary of the Lega, commented on Silvio Berlusconi’s critical statements about the Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. “Foreign policy – he added – has a clear sign” of Ukraine’s defense. Then “the goal of all” is to achieve peace.
09:08 – Meloni’s allies “to the rescue” after Berlusconi’s comments on Zelenskyy
(Monica Guerzoni) Ministers competitively repeated that the majority on foreign policy is not divided, despite Silvio Berlusconi’s sensational statements against Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. And yet, behind the euphoria of outright victory in the regional elections, the pro-Russian stance of the founder of Forza Italia continues to embarrass Giorgia Meloni and throw the coalition into trouble internally and internationally.
Here the complete article.
9:06 a.m. – Stoltenberg: “Non-urgent jets, now we have to deliver the tanks”
“The priority now is to deliver the promised tanks, the Leopards and the others, and the armored infantry vehicles. And so do the allies. Then you need to make sure there is ammo. Jets are not the most pressing issue at the moment, but the conversation is ongoing as Ukraine’s needs evolve as the war progresses.” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at the opening of the Ramstein format meeting in Brussels.
– Ukrainian troops in Donetsk (Ap)
08:29 – Kiev: Russia lost 139,080 soldiers in Ukraine
The General Staff of Ukraine reported in the usual bulletin that Russian military casualties since the invasion began are 139,080. Russia also lost 3,286 main battle tanks, 6,500 armored fighting vehicles, 5,155 vehicles and fuel tanks, 2,299 artillery systems, 466 multiple-missile air defense systems, 234 air defense systems, 298 aircraft, 286 helicopters, 2,011 drones and 18 boats.
07:53 – 325,000 houses have been destroyed in Ukraine since March 2022
Since March, Ukrainians have filed more than 325,000 reports of damaged or destroyed homes through the Ukrainian government’s electronic service applications, Olena Shulyak, deputy and head of the ruling Servants of the People’s Party, said Ukrinform.
– Destroyed houses in Kupyansk in Kharkiv region (Afp)
6:46 am – Dutch media: “Three Russian fighter jets intercepted over Poland”
The Dutch Defense Ministry said two of its F-35 fighter jets intercepted a formation of three Russian fighter jets over Poland yesterday and escorted them out of that airspace. Several international media report about it.
05:02 – «Politico», the US has informed Kiev that it will not supply long-range missiles
US President Joe Biden’s administration has informed the Ukrainian military authorities that it cannot supply long-range missiles for Himar’s multiple rocket launch systems due to the US’s insufficient stocks of this type of projectile. The newspaper “Politico” reports, citing four anonymous sources from the defense. At a recent Pentagon meeting, Washington is reported to have told Kiev that the stocks of Atacm missiles (acronym for “Army Tactical Missile Systems”) available to the US armed forces are not sufficient for their own needs and that the missiles should be transferred to Kiev to do so would impair the United States’ combat readiness in the event of a future conflict. The delivery of ballistic missiles to Ukraine that would allow Kiev to hit targets in Crimea and inside Russian territory has been discussed since the beginning of the conflict. Moscow has repeatedly warned that NATO would cross a “red line” by supplying Ukraine with long-range ballistic weapons, confirming its direct involvement in the hostilities.
02:33 am – Putin is using planes less and less, traveling on an armored train
Since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, “Vladimir Putin is no longer traveling in presidential planes, but in a special armored personnel carrier.” This is supported by an investigation by the Dossier Center, an investigative project founded by former Russian oligarch and opponent Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
According to the investigation, citing a source close to the Russian presidency, “The train was prepared for the president in 2014-2015, but the head of state started using it in the second half of 2021, when the Russian army began to use it constantly preparing for the invasion of Ukraine.
The company that owns the train belonged to the nephew of Yuri Kovalchuk, the main shareholder of Rossiya Bank and a close friend of the president». After the war broke out, “in February/March he started to use the train very actively, especially to reach his residence in Valdai,” the source told the Dossier Center. According to the investigation, the choice of the armored train is determined by reasons of security and “secrecy”: the movements of the presidential plane can be monitored using various services, while there are no services of this type for trains. Putin’s is “hardly distinguishable from other Russian trains visually,” but in any case “there are many differences: First, the presidential carriages are armored. Secondly, it has “top priority” over the rest of the rail traffic, “so that it can run at maximum speed and without intermediate stops”.
02:30 – USA: Berlusconi’s words? We work closely with Prime Minister Meloni
Silvio Berlusconi’s words about Zelenskyy do not affect relations between Washington and Rome. “We are working closely with the government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on a number of common interests, as we have been working with Italian governments for many years, and we appreciate Italy’s strong support for Ukraine,” a State Department spokesman told LaPresse The Latest Remarks by the ex-Prime Minister about the President of Ukraine.