The Ukraine forces STILL hold Backhmut….
The security get together in Germany has attracted 60 American Senators, The Vice President, Sec of State, and EU officals and even the Chinese…But?….NOT Russians….
Ukraine President Zelensky has addressed the group and bewgged for MORE arms….FASTER….
Zelensky is still cleaning house internally….
Any Ukraine entre into the European Union is years away….
Russian President Putin is strongly against it….
The search is on Russian spys in the West….
There IS a campaign to sell the idea that Russia IS losing this war…..
February 24 could be the jump off date for a Russian Ukraine offensive….
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine says weapons deliveries must be accelerated, telling the audience at a three-day meeting of top political leaders and officials that ‘there is no alternative to speed.’
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At a security conference in Munich, Zelensky invokes the battle of David and Goliath.
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Western officials hope to show unity. But that will be tested as the war drags on.
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The president of Belarus meets Putin amid speculation about the country’s role in the war.
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Germany’s allies pushed Germany to send tanks to Ukraine. Now, Scholz is the one urging them.
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The head of Russia’s Wagner group acknowledges the slow pace of the battle for Bakhmut.
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South Africa begins naval drills with Russia and China, despite criticism that it implies support of the war….
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The war in Ukraine will dominate the agenda at the annual security conference, which has traditionally been a forum for conversations between allies and adversaries. But Russia has not been invited to the event for the first time in decades, with the Munich Security Council Chair Christoph Heusgen explaining that he did not want it to become a platform for “propaganda.”
Vice President Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken are also attending the meeting, with Harris set to convey Washington’s continuing commitment to Kyiv. It is unclear whether Blinken will meet with China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, at the conference, amid tensions over the United States shooting down Beijing’s suspected spy balloon over the coast of South Carolina. Beijing has not provided direct military support to Russia, but Washington has accused Chinese state companies of providing assistance to Russia in recent weeks.
Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.
- “Last year when I was here in Munich I was looking for such common determination,” Zelensky said. “I wanted to hear from the world: ‘Ukraine, we will be with you.’” Last year’s meeting took place just days before Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine after massing more than 150,000 Russian troops on Ukraine’s borders. Zelensky lamented how support only came after the Russian invasion begun.
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called on Europe to “strategically pull together” on an armaments policy. “We will continue to maintain the balance between providing the best possible support to Ukraine and avoiding an unintended escalation,” Scholz said. Addressing divisions within his country about sending weapons to Ukraine, he added: “It is not our arms deliveries that are prolonging the war. The opposite is true.” Large demonstrations are expected in Munich on Saturday, as delegates meet for a second day, which will include both far left and far right protesters who object to Germany’s support for Ukraine.
- “We are prepared for a long-term conflict,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in remarks in Munich, where he urged European partners to invest more in defense, rethink Europe’s security doctrine and create an “investment program for Europe that is ambitious.” “This war is not only a war of Europeans, but a war that concerns the world as a whole,” he said. “We must intensify our support and our efforts to help [Ukraine] and allow a counteroffensive.”
- Russia’s spring offensive has begun, Zelensky said earlier: “Russian attacks are already happening from several directions,” Ukraine’s president said in an interview with the BBC. He repeated his opposition to any peace deal that involves surrendering land to Russia, arguing that any concessions would embolden Moscow to “keep coming back.”
- Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet his Belarusian counterpart Friday, Russian officials have said. A day earlier, Belarus’s authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko said his country will join the fighting only if it is attacked by Ukraine. At a news conference in Minsk, Lukashenko accused Ukraine of provoking Russia’s full-scale invasion and said, “If they commit aggression against Belarus, the answer will be immediate.”
- Heavy fighting continues in Bakhmut, the eastern city that military experts say has become a symbolic rather than strategic target. Yevgeniy Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner Group, a Kremlin-linked mercenary organization, told state media that Russia would not encircle the battered city until March or April.
- Russian shelling in Bakhmut killed five civilians, injured nine and destroyed many residential buildings on Thursday, the office of Ukraine’s prosecutor general said in a statement. It alleged that Russia targeted civilian areas and said Ukraine has launched an investigation into whether the attack violated the laws of war. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk appealed to the 6,000 civilians she said remain in the city to evacuate. Russian shelling also killed three other civilians in the Kherson region, regional authorities said of Thursday’s casualties.
- Russian forces and those of private military contractors in Ukraine have probably suffered up to 200,000 casualties since the war began, including approximately 40,000 to 60,000 deaths, according to Britain’s Defense Ministry. In November, the Pentagon said more than 100,000 Russian soldiers had been killed or injured. Friday’s Defense Ministry update said the casualty rate has “significantly increased” since September, when the Kremlin launched a military mobilization. The Kremlin-linked Wagner group, which Washington says includes 40,000 convicts, has probably experienced a casualty rate of up to 50 percent in Ukraine, the ministry added.
- Russian “spy” balloons over Ukraine are often decoys meant to waste military resources by drawing ammunition and attention, Ukrainian officials said. Yuriy Ihnat, a spokesman for Ukraine’s air force, told The Post the balloons are outdated military technology and not worthy of attention. “They’re trying to distract us,” he said….
*Next week I will probably adjust the Ukraine Update count by about 6 or 7 days up going forward…..