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President Joe Biden will be “messaging” Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin when he speaks in Warsaw next week, while hailing NATO’s unprecedented effort to help Ukrainians save their country as the war reaches the one-year mark. Follow our live blog for all the latest developments. All times are Paris time (GMT+1).
9:40am: ‘Give Ukraine what they need to win’, says NATO chief
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is Saturday expected to tell the Munich Security Conference that allies must provide Ukraine what it needs to defeat Russia, as Kyiv pleads for more weapons.
“We must give Ukraine what they need to win and prevail as a sovereign, independent nation in Europe,” he will tell the gathering of world leaders, according to excerpts of his speech seen by AFP.
9:21am: Explosions reported after new missile attack on Ukraine
Two explosions were heard in a west Ukrainian city as the country faced a new Russian missile salvo, local government officials said, with several regions limiting electricity supply as a precaution for potential strikes on the grid.
Two explosions could be heard in the city of Khmelnytskyi, which lies 170 miles (274 km) west of Kyiv, the regional governor said.
Shortly after air raid alerts were issued nationwide on Saturday morning, authorities in several southern and eastern regions of Ukraine warned of possible precautionary power outages to limit damage to the grid in case of a strike.
8:53am: Russian assets worth around $5.7 bln sanctioned in Germany
Russian assets worth around 5.32 billion euros ($5.69 billion) have been sanctioned in Germany over the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, the German finance ministry was cited as saying by Welt am Sonntag newspaper.
The newspaper report said the assets belong to Russian entities such the Russian central bank, companies and individuals on the European Union sanctions list. The ministry did not give the value of assets belonging to so-called oligarchs that were frozen, Welt am Sonntag said.
The paper said a new central authority for implementing sanctions is still being set up, citing the ministry, with 36 staff already working there and more being hired.
6:30am: Biden to send message to Putin in Ukraine war anniversary speech
President Joe Biden will be “messaging” Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin when he speaks in Warsaw next week, while hailing NATO‘s unprecedented effort to help Ukrainians save their country as the war reaches the one-year mark.
The White House says Biden will give the speech in Poland — a key US ally and fulcrum of vast efforts to arm Ukraine and receive refugees — on Tuesday.
That’s the same day Putin is set to give his own speech in Moscow, three days from the February 24th anniversary of Russian tanks rolling into Ukraine.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
