Vladimir Putin signs a law withdrawing Russia’s ratification of a global treaty banning nuclear weapons tests; German foreign minister lays out roadmap for Ukraine EU accession
President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed a law withdrawing Russia’s ratification of the global treaty banning nuclear weapons tests. US secretary of state Antony Blinken criticised Russia for leaving the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and called on Moscow to commit not to test. “Unfortunately, it represents a significant step in the wrong direction, taking us further from, not closer to, entry into force” of the treaty, Blinken said in a statement.
Annalena Baerbock, the German foreign minister, said on Thursday she was confident that the European Union next month would advance Ukraine’s bid to join the bloc at a summit seen as a key milestone in Kyiv’s efforts to integrate with the west. Germany proposed a detailed and innovative roadmap to expand the EU that would give candidate countries such as Ukraine early benefits including observer status at leaders’ summits in Brussels before full membership.
Russia rejected comments from Ukraine’s most senior military official that their nearly two-year conflict had reached a stalemate. “No, it has not reached a stalemate,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “Russia is steadily carrying out the special military operation. All the goals that were set should be fulfilled,” he added, using the Kremlin’s term for its full-scale military intervention.
Peskov was responding to an interview in British media with Ukraine’s commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Gen Valery Zaluzhny, who said the war in Ukraine was “at a stalemate” and there was likely to be “no deep and beautiful breakthrough” soon in the counteroffensive against Russia.
Mike Johnson, the US Republican House of Representatives speaker, has said that a bill pairing Ukraine aid with border security “will come next”, after the body’s vote on a standalone Israel aid measure.
The Biden administration planned on delivering $425m in new military aid to Ukraine, Reuters has quoted two US sources as saying. The officials said the long-term money will be provided through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which funds contracts for larger weapons systems that need to be either built or modified by defence companies.
Russia said on Thursday it had handed jail terms to two Ukrainian soldiers who fought in the city of Mariupol, as it continued to put dozens of captive soldiers on trial. Thousands of Ukrainian fighters were taken prisoner after Russia seized control of Mariupol last May, some of whom were sent to Russia or tried by Moscow-backed courts in occupied east Ukraine. Rights groups and western countries have criticised Moscow for putting captured Ukrainian soldiers on trial.
Russian drones hit civilian targets and triggered a fire early on Friday in and near Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city. Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Synehubov, writing on Telegram, said some of the attacks targeted civilian infrastructure in the city, in Ukraine’s north-east.
Russian shelling on Thursday killed two people in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region and damaged a critical infrastructure facility there, causing power cuts, local officials reported.
Russia has claimed Ukraine was risking a nuclear disaster, saying nine Ukrainian drones were shot down by Russian forces near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear station, Europe’s largest atomic power plant. Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for Russia’s foreign ministry, said: “Kyiv is continuing to ‘play with fire’ and is carrying out criminal and irresponsible provocations.”
Polish truckers will block several border crossings with Ukraine starting next week in protest at what they say is Ukrainian hauliers’ free rein in Poland that is hurting their business, a co-organiser of the protest said.
The Biden administration today added 12 Russian companies to a trade blacklist for supplying Russia’s military with drones that could be used to aid Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the commerce department said in a statement.
Russia is preparing to attack Ukraine’s critical infrastructure once the temperatures drop, according to Ukraine’s national security and defence council secretary, Oleksiy Danilov.
