Attacks continue in the Ukraine war despite Putin stating on Tuesday that he was willing to negotiate peace, but not with Zelensky. On Wednesday, the Russian petrochemical giant Sibur temporarily suspended production at its plant in the Nizhni Novgorod region due to a Ukrainian drone attack.
Meanwhile, Russia has once again attacked the capital of Ukraine. The remnants of a destroyed Russian drone fell near a metro station in the Darnytskyi district of Kiev. The capital was on alert for an aerial attack for about half an hour early this morning, but no casualties from the Russian attacks have been reported.
Meanwhile, on the front, Russia announced yesterday the capture of another town in Kharkiv, neighboring Donetsk and the epicenter of the Russian troops' offensive. This is the fourth town conquered by Putin's forces in the Kharkiv region since late December. Previously, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed the capture of the villages of Lozova, Kalinovo, and Zapadne.
Additionally, some units of the contingent of over ten thousand North Korean soldiers who have joined the Russian forces fighting the Ukrainian Army in the Russian region of Kursk have been withdrawn from the front line due to the high number of casualties suffered, as stated on Wednesday by the advisor to the Ukrainian presidency, Mijailo Podoliak.
"Putin is a son of a bitch," says former Uruguayan President José Mujica
Former Uruguayan President José "Pepe" Mujica called Russian President Vladimir Putin a "son of a bitch" and expressed his opinion that the war between Russia and Ukraine could have been avoided, in statements to a Spanish television program disclosed on Wednesday, as reported by Afp.
"Europe has lost its personality. It is getting involved in a pointless war with Ukraine. They could have avoided it 15 years ago," Mujica told Spanish journalist Jordi Évole in excerpts from an interview that will be broadcast on Sunday but was recorded six months ago.
Brussels presents EU countries with the sixteenth package of sanctions against Russia
The European Commission presented the details of the sixteenth package of sanctions against Russia for the war in Ukraine to the permanent representatives of the EU member states at the European Union (referred to as Coreper in EU jargon) on Wednesday, with Brussels aiming to have it ready by the end of February.
The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security, Kaja Kallas, explained on Tuesday that they are considering what exactly to include in the new sanctions, based on the elements that are aiding Russia in "waging this war."
In this context, she mentioned that it will be necessary to be "creative" and discussed the possibility of including, for example, video game consoles, "because apparently that's what the drones operate with," or even adding the "chemicals necessary for the Russian military industry," and admitted that they are also considering including liquefied natural gas.
Zelensky will ask Europe for part of the aid that Trump has suspended
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky requested on Wednesday that his government explore with Europe the possibility of covering funding for humanitarian, energy, and security projects affected by the decision of the new U.S. Administration to suspend almost all international aid offered by Washington for a period of 90 days.
"I have already ordered some things to be done with our own funds, and also to speak with the Europeans," said Zelensky in his daily address to the nation, where he explained that some "critically important" projects have been interrupted by the measure taken by the new U.S. President, Donald Trump.
Zelensky explained that some of the affected projects aimed to decentralize electricity generation in Ukraine to make it less vulnerable to deliberate Russian attacks.
Russian army approaches a new region of Ukraine
The battles seemed so distant to Svitlana Roudokvas and her small Ukrainian village. Today, she still finds it hard to believe, as if in a "bad dream," that the Russian army could reach her region for the first time.
Mrs. Roudokvas, 51, lives in Dnipropetrovsk region, in the village of Novopavlivka, very close to the border with Donetsk (east), the epicenter of clashes for almost three years.
Russian troops, advancing for months against a smaller Ukrainian army, are now only about 15 kilometers east of Mrs. Roudokvas's village, according to military analysts' maps. Since the start of their invasion in February 2022, they have never entered the Dnipropetrovsk region. Such an advance would mark a new stage in the course of the war.
"Some people still have the idea of a psychological barrier (at the border): they believe that the Russians will not cross it," Mrs. Roudokvas comments. She acknowledges that she thought the same for a long time, but when Russian bombs recently fell on her village, she changed her mind. This bombing destroyed a restaurant next to the store she runs in Novopavlivka.
The refinery attacked by Ukraine was part of the Baltic-2 pipeline
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the special operations forces of the Army attacked last night in a joint operation a refinery and an arsenal of the Russian Army located in the Tver region, in northwestern Russia, according to a Ukrainian source quoted by Ukrinform.
The refinery is, according to the SBU source, an important component of the Baltic-2 pipeline. In the attack, carried out with drones, a pumping system and fuel additive tanks were damaged, causing a spill of petroleum products and a fire.
This incident has forced Russia to interrupt the main conduit through which fuel is transferred to the Ust-Luga terminal in the Leningrad region, as stated by the source.
Additionally, in the joint operation of the SBU and the special forces of the Ukrainian Army, the 23rd missile arsenal of the Russian Ministry of Defense located in the same Tver region was hit, where residents reported on social media hearing more than twenty explosions.
France invites Foreign Ministers, including Marco Rubio, to a meeting on Ukraine
France has invited the Foreign Ministers of Ukraine, Germany, Poland, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the European Union, as well as the new U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, to a meeting on February 12 to discuss the war in Ukraine, as reported by diplomats on Wednesday.
It is not yet clear if Rubio will attend the talks, the diplomats noted, as the meeting has not been officially announced yet.
Slovakia summons the Ukrainian ambassador as tensions escalate over gas
The Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported on Wednesday that it had summoned the Ukrainian ambassador to protest previous comments made by Ukraine amid a growing dispute between the two countries after Ukraine halted the transit of Russian gas to Slovakia earlier this year.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated on Tuesday that Slovak Prime Minister, Robert Fico, had been "poisoned by Russian propaganda." This came after a comment by Fico, who, according to Slovak media, referred to Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, as an "enemy" of Slovakia due to the gas transit dispute.
Drones attack on Russia also hit a missile depot
The nighttime drone attack by Ukraine not only targeted the oil pumping station in Andreapol, Russia, which is part of an export route through the Ust-Luga port in the Baltic Sea, causing a leak of petroleum products and a fire, according to a source from the Security Service of Ukraine on Wednesday.
The attack also struck a missile depot in the Tver region of Russia, triggering a series of explosions, according to the same source. Reuters could not independently verify the information.