Russia carried out a “massive” attack on Friday with dozens of missiles against energy sites in Ukraine, according to Kiev, which claims that two projectiles crossed the airspace of Romania and therefore NATO, which Bucharest denies . To mark one year of the war in Ukraine, President Joe Biden will also visit Poland from February 20 to 22.
During a meeting of European sports ministers, Warsaw proposed, again on Friday, to include Russian and Belarusian athletes opposed to the war launched by Moscow in Ukraine in the Refugee Team for the Paris Olympics-2024, a indicated the Polish Minister of Sports. Volodymyr Zelensky continues his campaign against the presence of all Russian athletes at the Olympics.
Massive Russian attack on Ukrainian energy infrastructure
“Ukraine has temporarily lost 44% of its nuclear power generation capacity, 75% of its thermal power plant capacity and 33% of its cogeneration power plant capacity,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Chmygal said on Friday. “The vast majority of Ukrainians still have access to heating, water and electricity…there are enough resources to get through the winter,” he added. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a statement that a reactor at the Khmelnytskyi Atomic Power Plant (NPP), in the west of the country, was shut down due to network instabilities. electric.
According to kyiv, two projectiles would have crossed the airspace of Romania and therefore of NATO, but Bucharest denies. The Romanian Ministry of Defense said “no missile” had violated Romanian airspace, contrary to what the head of the Ukrainian army had assured. According to Bucharest, however, a missile passed 35 kilometers from Romanian territory, which justified the dispatch of two fighter planes. Ukrainian President Volodmyr Zelensky, however, continued to insist that “several missiles crossed the airspace of Moldova and Romania”, referring to a “challenge to NATO” from Russia.
Biden in Poland to mark one year of war in Ukraine
US President Joe Biden will visit Poland from February 20 to 22, shortly before the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, his spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre announced on Friday. He will meet Polish President Andrzej Duda there “to talk about our bilateral cooperation and our collective efforts to support Ukraine and strengthen NATO’s deterrent capabilities”, she said. The American president will also meet with the so-called “Bucharest Nine”, a group of Eastern European countries, members of the Western defense alliance.
Joe Biden also intends to deliver a speech in which he will repeat that the United States will support Ukraine “as long as it takes”. Asked about a possible trip to Ukraine, John Kirby, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, told a press conference that he had “no other steps to mention”.
Russia probably lost half of its heavy tanks, Washington says
Half of Russia’s heavy tanks were probably destroyed or captured by Ukraine, a Pentagon official said on Friday. Russia “probably lost half of its main combat tank reserve in battles and capture by the Ukrainians,” Celeste Wallander said at an online event for the Center for a New American Security.
This estimate by Celeste Wallander, who did not provide an exact figure for Russia’s loss of tanks since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, comes as Kiev prepares to receive heavy tanks from its Western allies. The United Kingdom has indicated that its Challenger 2 tanks will be deployed to Ukraine in March, while Germany and its allies plan to send their battalion of Leopard 2 tanks to Kiev by April. Washington has also promised a battalion of 31 Abrams, but they should take longer to get to Ukraine.
A well-known singer and a former opposition MP classified as “foreign agents”
A Russian rock star and a former opposition MP were classified as “foreign agents” by the Russian courts on Friday for their support for Ukraine, a new sign of repression as the anniversary of a year of the conflict. The names of Zemfira Ramazanova (“Zemfira” by her stage name) and Dmitry Gudkov now appear alongside dozens of others on the Justice Ministry’s list of people considered “foreign agents”, found the AFP. Icon of Russian rock, Zemfira is accused of having “openly taken a stand in support of Ukraine” and of having criticized “the special military operation” led by Moscow in Ukraine. Opposing Vladimir Putin and ex-deputy, Dmitri Goudkov “called for supplying arms to Ukraine” and “introducing restrictive measures against Russia”, according to the ministry. Both left Russia.
The infamous label of “foreign agent”, reminiscent of the Soviet-era “enemy of the people”, is used by the Russian authorities to suppress critical voices. This classification requires painful administrative procedures and identification as such in any publication, including on social networks, under penalty of a fine. The law on “foreign agents” was toughened in 2022, adding new prohibitions.
Olympics 2024: Warsaw proposes to include dissident Russian athletes in the refugee team
According to Kamil Bortniczuk, who spoke to the Polish media after a videoconference between the sports ministers of several countries organized by London, this “compromise solution” would make it possible to avoid the boycott of the Olympics by the opposing countries the admission to Paris of Russian and Belarusian athletes. “We proposed (…) to create a team of refugees, not a neutral team, which would allow people of Russian or Belarusian nationality, dissidents against the regimes of (Vladimir) Putin and (Alexander) Lukashenko respectively, participate” in the Olympic Games, said the Minister.
According to the Polish Minister, the choice of this solution would make it possible to avoid accusations of discrimination against people because of their nationality or their country of origin. This concept also allows the International Olympic Committee to “save face” after considering the admission of athletes from the two offending countries to the tournament, said Kamil Bortniczuk. Several countries had threatened the IOC to boycott the Olympics if Russian and Belarusian athletes were accepted. “The boycott will be an ultimate solution,” assured the Polish minister on Friday. For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is trying to build a common front against the presence of Russian athletes at the Olympics. He notably considered that the presence of Russian athletes at the 2024 Olympics in Paris would be “a sign of violence and impunity”, trying to convince sports ministers from several countries on Friday.